Dangerous Game
by Selet
Summary: What if Issei took Asia's death harder than normal? He takes becoming "The Ultimate Pawn" more seriously, earlier. He tones down his perversity, and stops playing the fool and puts his body through the wringer.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary - What if Issei took Asia's death harder than normal? He takes becoming "The Ultimate Pawn" more seriously, earlier. He tones down his perversity, and stops playing the fool and puts his body through the wringer.**

[talking], **[Sacred Gear Spirits and Dragons]** , _[Thinking]_

 **I do not own Highschool DxD or any of the characters mentioned.**

Story Start:

Issei is kneeling next to a blonde foreigner. She looks as if she's sleeping peacefully, but if you looked closer, you would notice that she is not breathing.

 _Asia..._ Issei thought. _Not again!_ _I've failed you. I promised I would save you, but I still can't do anything right. This is no different from back then! I'm not strong enough to do anything. How could I ever think that I could become the "Ultimate Pawn"?!_ tears are flowing freely from his eyes while a hand clenches at his heart.

"How touching. The low class devil fell for the Holy Maiden." a voice speaks out from behind him. Isseis eyes widen in anger and he slowly stands up. "What are you going to do now? You've lost. She's dead." the voice mocks him. "You can't stop me now. I'm invincble with my new Twilight Healing."

"Raynare.." Issei sneers out. His body shaking in rage. A red gauntlet appears on his left hand and spreads up to his elbow, the jewel on the back of his hand glowing brightly.

"I don't want some low class trash saying my name." She tells him arrogantly before manifesting a light spear. "Any last words?" Issei turns around and starts stalking towards her slowly swaying from side to side as if in a trance.

 **"Boost!"** An eirie voice calls out and echos around the church making it impossible to pinpoint. Raynare looks around for whoever is speaking.

"Who's there? Come out so I can kill you as well!" She arrogantly yells. **"Boost!"** the voice calls out again. "Stop hiding!"

 **"Boost!"** Raynare starts looking back and forth nervously not noticing Issei's aura increasing in strength. **"Boost!"**

"You took her from me. You killed Asia. I can never forgive you. She only wanted a friend. " **Boost!"** She just wanted to stop being lonely." Issei mutters barely able to be heard. " **"Boost!"** I'll kill you!" Issei roars out and gives a death glare to Raynare. " **Boost! ~ Explosion!"** Issei disappears from in from of Raynare making her eyes widen. Before she can move to defend herself, she feels a fist collide with her face. She smashes into the wall and slides down to the floor. As she is attempting to stand back up, she notices a foot coming at her before darkness floods her vision.

~Rias POV~

 _Dear Maou.. Is that really Issei?!_ Rias thinks while watching him repeatedly kick and punch and unconcious and bloody Raynare. "Issei! Stop! She can't even defend herself!" She calls out to him. He slowly turns away from Raynare to stare at Rias making her flinch from the lifeless sight of his eyes. **"Reset!"**

"Asia couldn't defend herself either." He states bluntly. He turns back to keep hitting Raynare.

"Koneko! Stop Issei!" A white blur tackles Issei and pins him to the floor. "Issei, I can save Asia, but you need to stop this!" his eyes snap to Rias' with hope.

"Please, Buchou! Save Asia, I beg of you! I'll do anything!" he pleads desperately. Rias nods and walks over to Raynare and wakes her up.

"Fallen Angel Raynare, this is the end. Do you have any last words?" Rias asks her arrogantly. Raynare stares at Issei in fear and shakes her head shakily. Rias forms a ball of destruction and makes her explode, leaving behind Asia's Twilight Healing. "Let's return this to the rightful owner." she walks towards Asia and slides the rings on her fingers and puts a Bishop piece on her chest.

"Asia Argento! In the name of Rias Gremory, I command you to be reborn! Return as my servant and live your life for me!" She chants. The Bishop fuses into Asia and her eyes slowly open.

"Is this heaven?" she asks softly looking around before spotting Issei. "Issei?! Did you die too?" she shouts out with tears coming to her eyes.

"No, Issei isn't dead, and neither are you. I revived you as a devil in my Peerage." Rias explains. "Let him up, Koneko." Issei runs to Asia and hugs her crying tears of joy.

"I'm so sorry Asia. I failed you, but I promise I will never fail you again!" Issei swears between his sobs. Asia smiles and rubs his back.

"You didn't fail me Issei, I'm here, so there's nothing to worry about!" she exclaims happily. Rias smiles fondly and leaves them to themselves.

~A Few Days Later~

The Occult Research clubs members besides Issei and Asia are meeting together.

"Is Issei going to be okay?" Akeno asks worriedly. Issei passed out earlier and was brought home to sleep. Asia is currently tending to his wounds.

"He'll be fine by tomorrow. He just overworked himself." Rias answered calmly. "How can we get him to tone it down though?"

"I don't think we can. He's put himself into his training as hard as he can. His workout is extreme." Kiba states. Issei has been running until he collapses every day, rests for a short while, and starts doing push ups, sit ups and pull ups until his arms give out before going back to running until he collapses again. He has been repeating this process over and over for six days straight. His only breaks in this are school, food and sleep. "He's even stopped peeking on the kendo club."

"Sempai is going to hurt himself." Koneko states while eating her sweets.

"Perhaps we should take Issei and Asia to get familiars to take his mind off of training for a while." Rias wonders aloud.

~Issei's Dream~

"I'm getting stronger but it's not enough! How can I protect Asia and the others if a little pain stops me?!" Issei berates himself. "I'm useless the way I am!"

 **"That you are Partner!"** a deep voice booms out from nowhere.

"Who are you?!" Issei shouts out

 **"I am the spirit trapped in your Sacred Gear, Boosted Gear, Ddraig! The Red Dragon Emperor! The Sekiryuutei!"** the voice booms proudly. **"We can finally talk, you have grown stronger, but as you said, it is not enough. The White One will soon appear as well, and you are destined to fight each other!"** Issei scoffs.

"I don't care about this "White One". I only want to be able to protect my friends." Issei says determined "What is the Boosted Gear though? I thought it was a Twice Critical?" he asks confused. Ddraig bursts out laughing.

 **"Foolish child! The Boosted Gear is a Longinus! It has the ability to match God if the user is strong enough! I am one of the Two Heavely Dragons!"**

"Match a God? Does that mean if I master Boosted Gear that I can protect my friends?!"

 **"Easily Partner. The Longinus are the thirteen most powerful Sacred Gears in Existence!"**

"Will you help me master your Boosted Gear then, Ddraig?"

 **"I will do what I can. But unless we find a powerful dragon willing to help you train, we may have slow progress. Only a dragon can train another dragon after all!"**

"How would I go about finding a dragon?" he asks desperately.

 **"Hmmm.. I'm unsure what happened to Tanin, Fafnir, Midgardsomr and Yu-Long. Vritra was sealed after a rampage if my memories remain from my last hosts, and Tiamat hides herself out in the Familiar Forest. She hates me though, so she probably wouldn't help. We'll figure that out later though. For now you need to get stronger. Once you unlock Balance Breaker, the sealed state of a sacred gear, I will be able to help you more."**

"How do I unlock Balance Breaker?"

 **"You must get a lot stronger! Once you get strong enough, a turning point in your life will release the seal holding you from Balance Breaker. But first, you must get stronger!"**

"Then I will kick up my workout. I'm not pushing myself hard enough. I have to protect everyone!"

~The next day~

The ORC is watching Issei do his workout, which seems he made it even more insane. Right now he is running around the track with a boulder tied to his back.

"Issei! Come over here!" Rias calls out. Issei runs over to her and starts doing squats with the boulder still on his back, making Rias angry.

"What do you need, Buchou?" he asks her.

"Why are you pushing yourself so hard?!" She yells at him. "You're just going to end up hurting yourself!"

"I'm not strong enough! I need to get stronger! Ddraig said I'm nowhere near strong enough to unlock my Balance Breaker yet, so I can't slack off!" Rias' eyes widen.

"Balance Breaker? Who told you about that? And who is Ddraig?" Issei is still doing squats.

"Ddraig is the dragon in my sacred gear. He called himself the Sekiryuutei." Everyone in her peerage eyes widen.

"Your sacred gear is the Boosted Gear?!" Rias screams in shock. "No wonder it took all my pawns to revive you! How did I not realize this yet?!" she shakes her head to clear her thoughts "That's irrelevant! You're going to kill yourself with this workout of yours if you keep it up. Take a rest and relax some. We're all worried about you, Issei." everyones heads nod agreeing with her. "We're going to the Familiar Forest in a couple of days to get you and Asia a familiar. Just relax until after we get back, okay?" she begs him. Issei's eyes light up and a wide smile appears on his face.

"Familiar Forest you say? Great! There's someone there that I want to meet!" everyone looks confused and he turns to walk away. "I'll relax until after we get back because you asked, but then I'm going back to training!" he heads home after untying the boulder.

"Who do you think he wants to meet in the Familiar Forest, Rias?" Akeno asks.

"I'm not sure, hopefully he doesn't do something stupid though."

~Next Day - ORC~

The ORC are discussing about heading to the Familiar Forest the next day when the Student Council walks in.

"Hello, Rias and her peerage." the president calls out.

"Hello, Sona. What brings you here? We were just discussing going to the Familiar Forest tomorrow." Rias responds.

"That's unfortunate. I was planning on going tomorrow as well."

"Hmm, the familiar master only allows one peerage per month to go. So how shall we settle this?"

"Wait, Kaichou is a devil as well?" Issei asks. The blonde haired boy on the studen council scoffs.

"Shows what you know. Did you think you were the only devils in this school? I guess Rias doesn't trust you to let you know inside info." he says arrogantly.

"Be quiet, Saji. It's only natural he doesn't know yet, as he is still new to being a devil." Sona explains.

"This is Sona Sitri, the heir of the Sitri clan."

"I'm Saji Genshirou. Kaichou's Pawn." Saji states

"Oh, cool! I'm a pawn too!" Issei says excitedly. "Maybe we can get together and talk about how we can use our pieces to our advantage?"

"Tch, like I'd waste my time with you. I took up four pawns, you probably only took up one." he says mockingly.

"You wanna fight?!" Issei yells out at him.

"Let's do it!" Saji accepts.

"Stand down Saji, You can't beat him." Sona says calmly.

"Are you saying he's stronger than me, Kaichou?" he asks heatedly.

"Yes. Issei Hyoudou took up eight pawn pieces." she explains. "He also apparently does an insane workout while you are lazy."

"Eight?! Isn't that all of them? How is this pervert worth so many pawn pieces?" he asks flabbergasted.

"He is this generations Sekiryuutei. He wields the Longinus Boosted Gear."

"Anyways, can't you wait until next month to get familiars, Sona? I'd like to get Issei and Asia their familiars tomorrow." Rias asks politely.

"Why should I let you? I have older members of my peerage that have yet to get their familiars yet as well." she demands.

"Please, let us go tomorrow Kaichou! There's someone I need to find in the Familiar Forest!" Issei begs her. Sona looks at him confused.

"Who would you need to find in that forest? The forest is mainly full of monsters and beasts, not many that can make conversation."

 **"I'd like to know as well, Partner. I hope it's not who I think it is."** Ddraig speaks up from Issei's left hand. Everyone looks at his hand in surprise.

"Ddraig? You can talk to me outside of my dreams?" Issei asked ignoring the question.

 **"You've become strong enough to contact me now, so we can converse at any time. Now who do you want to meet in that forest? You better not be talking about her, remember, she hates me. She is more likely to kill you than help you."** Ddraig states confusing the others.

"If I don't try though, who knows when I'll have another chance?" Issei retorts.

 **"Do you have a death wish, Partner?!"**

"Who are you talking about?" Rias asks.

 **"Tiamat."** Ddraig answers shocking everyone present.

"You want to find the Chaos Karma Dragon?!" Rias screams out. "Why?!"

"Because Ddraig told me the only way I can get stronger is if I have a powerful dragon train me. Only a dragon can train another dragon. This might be my only chance to meet one for who knows how long."

"Your reason is to search for a Dragon King?" Sona asks incredulously. "Why does Tiamat hate you, Ddraig?"

 **"Uhm.. I'm not really sure. I forgot the reason."**

"So can you allow us to go this month Kaichou? I'll do anything for you if you'll allow us to go tomorrow." Issei gets on his knees and begs. Sona takes off her glasses and rubs the bridge of her nose while sighing.

"Very well. I'll back off for now. But remember, you owe me." She says and leaves the ORC with the student council.

"Issei, I can't allow you to search out a Dragon King!" Rias exclaims.

"Please Buchou? I need the help of a dragon, this may be my only chance!" Issei begs. Rias chews on her thumb nervously while looking at the rest of her peerage.

"Issei.. We'll pay her a visit, but you will be respectful. She is the most powerful Dragon King, do NOT upset her." Issei nods and gets determined. _I can't fail them anymore. I must get stronger!_

~Familiar Forest - Next Day~

The members of the ORC are fidgeting nervously waiting for the Familiar Master to show up and lead them to Tiamat, while Issei is worrying about whether she will kill him flat out or help him.

"Hello young devils!" A voice calls out from a tree making them all look up. "I am Satooji from Madara Town, a devil-in training aiming to become the familiar master!"

 _This sounds familiar for some reason..._ Issei thought.

"Do you guys have any idea what kind of familiar you are looking for, or are you looking for recommendations?" Satooji asks. Rias steps forward and smiles.

"We would like you to lead us to where Tiamat is currently residing. Can you manage that?" she asks him. Satooji breaks out in a nervous sweat.

"The Chaos Karma Dragon, eh? I know where she resides, but are you sure? You still have much to live for after all." He responds.

"We're sure. We've tried talking Issei out of it, but he refuses to listen." Rias sighs.

"Very well, I'll show you where she resides, but you're on your own after that."

The group is currently standing outside of a massive cave deep inside of the forest. An overwhelming presence makes everyone break out in a cold sweat.

 **"Ddraig!"** a voice roars out from inside of the cave **"I told you that I never want to see your face again!"** A massive blue western dragon walks out of the cave and looks around **"Where are you?! Don't bother hiding, I can sense that you are here!"**

"Tiamat, Ddraig is still sealed. I'm the current possesor of the Boosted Gear." Issei tells her politely. She looks down at him and narrows her eyes at her and then looks at Asia.

 **"So you brought a Dragon Tamer with you. Were you hoping that would save your life from me, vessel of Ddraig?"** she asks confusing everyone present.

"Dragon Tamer? What do you mean, Tiamat?" Rias asks her.

 **"Don't play dumb with me girl. I can feel this girls aura, she feels like dragon fruit."** she turns back to Issei and narrows her eyes. **"Now what do you want, vessel of Ddraig? Answer me before I kill you."**

"Tiamat, I've come to request your help. Ddraig told me that only a dragon can train another dragon. Is there anything I could do for you to help me become stronger?" Issei asks her. Tiamat growls at him.

 **"Ddraig! Did you really bring your host here hoping I would train him to defeat the White One?!"** Tiamat roars out. **"That fued between you two damned Heavely Dragons needs to end already!"** Issei gets annoyed at her.

"I do not care about the White One!" Issei screams surprising Tiamat. "I don't even know who the White One is, and I don't care who it is either way!" Tiamat leans down face to face to Issei.

 **"Then why is it that you are here, child? What is your purpose of seeking me out?"** She asks him **"If I'm not satisfied with your reason, I will kill you! Now answer me!"**

 **"Tiamat.."** Ddraig tries to talk but gets cut off.

 **"Shut up, Ddraig! I'm talking to your host, not you!"**

"I have sought you out because I need your help. I'm too weak, I can't protect my friends, I even got one killed because of my weakness." Issei drops to his knees and bows to her. "Please, I beg of you Tiamat! Help me become stronger. Torture me, assault me, tear my body apart. I don't care! Just please help me!" Tiamats eyes widen.

 _Issei.. Why are you killing yourself so much over what happened?_ Rias thinks sadly.

 **"Why do you bow to me, boy? A dragons pride is all that we have, yet you throw it away with such ease. Tell me why. Your natural instincts must be screaming at you."**

"Because my pride is useless!" he answers surprising Tiamat again. "So far all that pride has gotten me is my friends hurt. If it means being able to help my friends, I'll gladly throw out any pride I have."

 **"For what reason should I help you, boy? You're the host of Ddraig, surely he warned you that I would kill you for that lone fact, correct?"**

"He did warn me, but I don't care. If killing me will make you feel better, then go ahead. At least in death I won't bring harm to my friends." Issei states with no hesitation surprising everyone. Tiamat brings her hand up preparing to attack Issei.

"Wait! Tiamat, why is it that you hate Ddraig so much?" Rias asks her. Tiamat narrows her eyes at Rias.

 **"This has nothing to do with you girl. But if you must know, Ddraig killed my mate while he was fighting the White One before he got sealed."** Tiamat snarls out. **"Those two dragons don't care what they destroy or who they hurt, so long as they get to fight each other."** Issei closes his eyes and sighs in defeat.

"It seems there will be no way for me to convince you to help me then. If it will satisfy you, feel free to take my life in exchance for your mates." Issei turns to the ORC group and smiles softly at them. "I'm sorry, it looks like I won't be able to protect any of you after all. I've broken my promise to you again, Asia." he turns around not noticing Asia and Rias crying. "Go ahead, Tiamat, but please allow my friends to leave safely afterwards."

 _He walks to his death and even asks for us to be spared... Sempai... Why do I have to be so afraid of myself?!_ Koneko cries out in her head clenching her fists.

 **"Tell me something first, child. What would you do if the White One appeared in front of you right now?"** She asks Issei seriously.

 **"He'd fight!"** Ddraig roars out. **"It's in our blood to fight each other, nothing can stop that!"**

 **"Shut the hell up Ddraig! You've ruined enough lives with that war between the two of you!"** Tiamat roars at him before turning back to Issei. **"Answer my question."**

"It depends on what he or she did." Issei answered and Tiamat's eyes narrow. "If they threatens my friends, I will fight. If they want to be a friend, I will be their friend. Fighting just to hurt someone else? There's no reason in it. I said it before, the only thing that I want is to protect my friends. Nothing else." Tiamat bursts out laughing.

 **"Tell me your name, child!"** she commands him.

"Issei Hyoudou!"

 **"Very well, Issei Hyoudou, I shall become your familiar and train you, but if you ever gain Ddraig's battle-mania, I will kill you where you stand!"** Tiamat turns to a shell shocked Rias as her body starts shrinking. **"Teach him ho** w to form a familiar contract, girl." Tiamats voice becomes more feminine as her body turns into the form of a human. She now stands a few inches taller than Koneko and has deep blue hair and wearing a sky blue kimono. Her body is more developed than Asia's, but not by much. Her skin is smooth and has the impression of scales all over. She looks up in a tree and spots something. "Oh, a young sprite dragon? Usually they avoid my territory. You must have a lot of potential, Dragon Tamer."

 **Issei is going to have a fairly small harem in this story. It won't be built very fast, not all of the ORC club members will be a part of it, but some of them will.**

 **With Tiamat training Issei long before he was supposed to be trained by Tanin, how much stronger will he become? When it comes to the underworld training with Tanin, he will have both of them training him in certain areas. Tiamat will mainly be training him in stamina and Lightning and Ice dragon magic. Issei won't become unstoppably powerful, but he will be a lot stronger than he is in Canon. Koneko watching Issei putting his life on the line to protect his friends is going to make her hate herself for being weak, which will make her willing to use her Nekomata abilities sooner as well. The others won't be affected as much until after the Rating Game with Raiser Phoenix.**

 **The reason Sona backed off on the familiar forest so easily is so that Issei will owe her a favor. She's very smart, so she should know she may have use for the Sekiryuutei at some point.**

 **Issei will become a Mid-Class Devil shortly after the Rating Game with Raiser Phoenix. I never understood why they waited so long to promote him in Canon. Sure there's politics, but Issei became one of the underworlds most popular characters in almost no time at all. There should have been no good reason not to promote him.**

 **Current Harem: Tiamat, Asia, Koneko.**

 **Rias will NOT be a part of his harem in this story. I like the RiasxIssei pairing, but it will not be a pairing in this story. My choices for his harem are going to be more around those who he inspires to become stronger to get over their fears, rather than those who just want to get stronger for different reasons.**

 **Next chapter will be about Issei's training with Tiamat, and the events leading up to the Rating Game.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Edited Chapter One slightly. Left out a small part that will play a major part in Issei's character change. I only changed the first line in chapter one, so you don't need to reread the whole chapter unless you want to. There were some small hints towards his change in character, but nothing major besides the first line.**

 **Story Start:**

"Is that the best you can do, Issei?!" Tiamat taunts him. "I thought you wanted to get stronger? Why are you being lazy?" Issei is sitting against a tree breathing heavily while glaring at her. Asia is sitting off to side watching intently while playing with Rassei. Rassei is the sprite dragon she made her familiar. She named him Rassei because _"He uses Lightning and I wanted to name him after Issei as well."_

"Give me a minute, you damn dragon! I don't have the energy to keep going forever!"

"Hmph. What happened to all that determination to getting stronger? Did you forget your promise to protect your friends already? Or did it mean so little to you?" she asks with a smirk on her face. Issei's blood freezes and he slowly stands back up.

"You're right, I don't have the time to lay about. Let's continue!" He charges Tiamat only to get backhanded away again.

"Is the weight to much for you or something? You're moving so slow it's pathetic." Tiamat enchanted his clothes to weigh more so he will always be gaining strength. His clothes weigh about 150 pounds in total right now. She upgraded the weight earlier this morning. It's been a month since they returned from the familiar forest, where she immediately gave him the weighted clothes at 75 pounds at first. She gets Issei up at three in the morning every day to exercise before school, and is waiting for him as soon as the school bell rings to continue. "I can make it lighter for you if you can't handle it." she teases him.

"No! The weight is fine. I'll get used to it." He responds while getting to his feet again.

"Good. Then lets continue already!" she smirks and gets in a fighting stance.

~At the ORC Room~

Rias is sitting at her desk rubbing her temples. "Dragons are insane. I know it. They are just plain insane." Akeno chuckles next to her holding a kettle of tea.

"At least she is holding back on his training like you asked."

"You call that holding back?! He was a human a little over a month ago!" Rias asks angrily.

"Don't worry so much Rias. Tiamat won't kill him.. at least if Ddraig keeps his mouth shut she won't." She says and Rias pales.

"I still can't believe how badly she beat Issei that day. She really hates Ddraig..." A couple of weeks ago Ddraig taunted on Tiamat being to soft on Issei in their training. Tiamat immediately exploded in rage and beat Issei near to death, and since then has made their training sessions even harder. "If it wasn't for Asia's Twilight Healing, Issei would have died that day."

"Have you seen Koneko much lately, Rias?" Akeno asks with a finger on her chin. "She seems to go home early every day now and comes to school looking exhausted."

"I haven't seen her very much, I'm getting worried about her. She isn't the most sociable, but she used to at least stick around." Rias comments with a sigh before hearing a massive explosion outside.

"Issei!" Asia yells out. Rias and Akeno sigh again. _Ddraig is going to get Issei killed._ they both thought at the same time.

"Good morning, Buchou." Kiba says as he walks in the room. "Is Ddraig taunting Tiamat again?"

"Probably. He doesn't learn his lesson." She answers. "At least his training is having good results. He couldn't even use the magic circle when he started out."

"That's true, he's even completing contracts now." Akeno responds. "Tiamat is a good influence for him, even if she goes overboard more often than not." Another explosion in the background goes off making them all chuckle to themselves.

~During Class~

"Issei! Why haven't you been hanging out with us lately?!" Matsuda exclaims walking up to his desk. "Is it because you got the blonde beauty living with you now that we're not worth your time anymore?!" Asia moved in with Issei the night after they left the Familiar Forest. Rias called it Marriage Training, and Issei parents were overjoyed thinking he finally found a girl that will put up with him.

"It has nothing to do with that. I've just got more important things to do than peep and watch porn with you two." he answers flatly shocking most of the students.

"Did ISSEI of all people say he has more important things to do than be a pervert?" one of them whispered. "What do you think he's doing?" another whispered back. "I'm not sure, but have you noticed he's starting to bulk up? I think he's been working out." more whispers break out across the room of similar comments.

"What could possibly be more important than our peeping?!" Motohama yells out. The girls in the class glare at him.

"Plenty of things are more important, Motohama." Issei calmly replies and pulls out a book and starts reading. Rias told him a devil should know more about the history and customs of the three factions, so he has been studying about the 72 pillars and the war in his spare time.

"Will you two quiet down? You're disturbing the rest of the class." Kiryuu Aika states while walking towards the three.

"Shut it Kiryuu! You don't understand the passion of being a man!" Matsuda yells out. "It's all about finding that paradise that is hidden from our eyes!" Issei sweat drops and looks to Kiryuu.

"Was I really that bad?" He asks and notices everyone in the room nodding their heads. "Well, damn. Glad I gave that stuff up." He says before going back to his book not noticing the shocked looks on his friends faces.

"Gave?" Matsuda says stunned

"It up?" Motohama finishes.

"Blasphemous!" They both shout out.

"You don't just give up on your desires. Someone has corrupted you Issei!" Matsuda yells.

"We must save him! Matsuda! We must drag him to your house and reeducate him tonight!" the two perverts lean in close and whisper their plan to convert Issei back to the perverts.

 _It's not like I don't have any desires anymore.. But getting beat half to death every single day changes your priorities a little._ Issei thinks while trying to ignore the two as class starts.

~Lunch Time - Cafeteria~

"Have you heard? Apparently Issei quit being a pervert!" a few students were whispering to each other.

"I don't believe that yet. It must be some plan of his to catch us all off guard." another comments.

"What do you think happened to him?"

"Maybe he finally got a girlfriend?"

"Do you think it's Asia? She is living with him after all."

"Who knows, Maybe he's just finally growing up."

None of them notice Katase and Murayama look at each other before leaving the cafeteria. _I'll figure out your plan!_ They both thought.

~With Issei~

Issei is sitting against a tree reading while eating his lunch that Asia made for him. _So the current Maou are Sirzechs Lucifer, Ajuka Beelzebub, Falbium Asmodeus and Serafall Leviathan._

"Hey Issei!" Katase calls out to him making him look up. _Hmm, what do they want?_

"Hi Katase, Murayama. How can I help you?" he asks with a small smile.

"We were just wondering where you've been, you've been quiet lately. We miss beating you up!" Murayama answers. Issei's smiles disappears and looks confused.

"I've been busy, I don't plan on peeking on the kendo club anymore, so you don't need to beat me up anymore."

"What? Are we not good enough for you to peek at now?" Katase asks with a smirk while leaning down towards him showing her cleavage.

"It's not that, but I have more important things to do than waste my time peeping on you women." He answers calmly. "I thought you'd be happy without me peeping on you two anymore?"

"We are, it just seems weird. You are the incarnation of beastly desires! What happened to you Issei?" Murayama asks. _Am I really worrying about that?_

"I got my priorities straight, that's all. If that's all you need, class is about to start up again. See ya!" Issei packs up and leaves two shocked girls standing there.

"Katase.. What happened to the perverted beast?" Murayama asks.

"I'm not sure.. But this is a good thing right? It's not like it's because he thought we're not good enough to look at anymore or anything." Katase says in a small voice. "Maybe the Issei we used to know is back now?" Katase asks hopefully. Murayama's eyes widen when she hears that.

"Do you think so? After that incident in middle school, he just started being an extreme pervert, pushing everyone he cared about away. Do you think he finally found his resolve again?" Murayama asks while they both watch Issei walk away.

"I hope so." she answers simply. "He wouldn't believe us when we told him it wasn't his fault. He thought we were pitying him. He just seemed to have given up." Katase firms her resolve and looks at Murayama. "I don't know about you, but if the old Issei is back, I'll be supporting him all the way." She says with no hesitation. Murayama nods.

"It's the only reason we kept up with kendo after all. We can't let him go through something like that alone again." Murayama answers back heatedly. _You won't be alone anymore, Issei!_

~After School~

Issei is found outside the Old School building talking to a blue haired woman. _Who's that? I've never seen her before._ Katase thought.

"Hey Issei, you got a minute?" Katase calls out to him. She is wearing her kendo clothes, and is about to head to practice.

"Your not here to ask why I'm not being a pervert again, are you?" He asks with narrowed eyes making her blush in embarrassment.

"Hehe, Sorry about that. We thought you were planning something to catch us off guard."

"Fine, Fine. So what do you need, Katase?" Issei asks with a smile.

"I was wondering if you wanted to spar, just like old times? I haven't heard of you picking up a shinai lately, so I wanted to know if you still got the same skill you used to?" She notices Issei looking nervous and mentally kicks herself. _That's right, he hasn't touched a shinai since that incident.._

"Uh.. I'd love to.. but.." Issei trails off trying to think of an excuse.

"Go ahead Issei, I didn't know you knew how to weild a sword. It's a useful skill to have, you should keep in practice." the blue haired girl speaks up from next to him. "We can continue your lessons tomorrow." she walks into the old school house and leaves the two alone.

"What lessons is she teaching you?" Katase asks in suspicion.

"She's been teaching me how to fight properly. Martial Arts if you want to think of it that way." He responds making Katase's eyes widen. _So he really is back?!_

"That's great! I'm sure you'll do great in it!" Katase says happily. "So how bout we go have a spar? Let's see if you can still beat me like you used to. I've gotten a lot better in the last few years." Issei nods nervously and they head to the kendo room together. As soon as they enter the rest of the room explodes.

"Why is that beast here? I knew he was planning something, but this?!" One of the other members shouts out.

"Be quiet!" Katase yells back at her. "I invited him here for a spar."

"Huh? Issei knows Kendo? That's ridiculous! He's just a pervert!" another exclaims. Katase ignores her and walks up to the rack of Shinai and tosses one to him. He catches it and looks at it and starts shaking slightly.

"Issei? Are you alright?" Katase asks worriedly. Issei shakes himself to clear his thoughts.

"I'm fine, Don't worry about me." he says while getting in his starting position while Katase gets in hers.

"What stance is that? I've never seen that stance before?" some of the club members whisper in confusion about Issei's stance. He's holding the Shinai in one hand in a reverse grip with the tip facing the floor at an angle and his hand up high. His free hand hanging freely behind him and his knees bent staring straight at Katase.

"So you still use that old stance huh?" She asks with a small smile. "Ready?" He nods and they both launch at each other. Their shinai smacking against each other over and over. To the crowd they look to be dancing. Suddenly Issei grabs Katase's wrist and spins behind her holding her wrist against her back and his shinai to her neck.

"Y-you lose again, Katase." Issei says with a stutter before dropping his Shinai and looking at his hands that are shaking. _Stop shaking, you damn hands. I have to move past that. I can't let it hang over my head forever.._ He breaks from his thoughts when Katase puts a hand on his shoulder and gives him a sad smile.

"It'll be alright Issei, It won't happen again. I won't let it." Issei's eyes widen and start tearing up. Katase pulls him into a hug and lets him cry into her shoulder. The rest of the club members are watching in shock, equal parts as her losing, and that Katase is comforting Issei before Murayama steps in front of him.

"That's enough! Stop watching, practice is canceled today. Go home." Murayama tells them while pushing them out of the club room before looking back with a sad smile. _I hope you can move on, Issei. She wouldn't want to see you like this._

Issei ending up crying into Katase's shoulder for the next hour before finally stopping. He stepped back and gave her a bright smile, the first she's seen him have in years. _Hopefully that fake smile of his is gone for good now._ She thought.

"Thank you, Katase. I needed that." He tells her happily. She smiles slyly at him.

"Which part, the shoulder to cry on, or my body that you were clinging to?" she teases him. He scratches the back of his head and laughs.

"Maybe both, who knows?" He winks at her causing her to laugh as well. Her laughing stops and she gets a serious expression.

"Are you really back, Issei? We missed the real you, you know."

"Yeah, I'm back, Kat." He answers using her old nickname. "I've found something worth protecting again. I won't let anything happen this time." he says with a small fire burning in his eyes.

"You're welcome to come for a spar anytime you want. Murayama and I would love to have someone who can actually beat us to spar with again."

"Thanks, I'd like that. I should be heading home though, I'll talk to you later, Kat." They both leave and head home, with Katase having a happy smile on her face the whole way home.

~At Issei's House~

"I'm home!" he calls out.

"Welcome home dear. How was your day?" his mother asks him.

"I had a great day, Mom." He says with a bright smile shocking his mother. "I'll be back, I have to grab something from the basement." he heads downstairs leaving his parents baffled.

"What do you think he's going to get, hun?" she asks her husband.

"I'm not sure, I'm just glad we can see his smile once again." he answers with a smile.

"Hey Dad! Do you know where my old maintenance kit is?" Issei asks as he walks through the door carrying his old sword making both of his parents eyes widen.

"I... I'm not sure. I can pick you up a new one tomorrow while you're at school if you want, Issei." he responds in shock.

"Thanks Dad! I'll be in my room if you need me!" He says while waving over his shoulder at his parents.

"Hun.. What just happened?" his mother asks still in shock.

"I'm don't know. I thought he'd never touch that sword again..."

~The Next Morning~

"Good morning, Buchou." Issei and Asia call out while walking in the club room. Issei is carrying a sword with him. "Is Tiamat here yet?"

"No, she's not here yet. She should be here soon though." She notices the sword in his hand. "Why do you have a sword? Do you know how to wield one?" she asks him.

"Yeah, I haven't practiced in a few years though, So I figured I could use the practice." Issei answers with a bright smile. Rias and Akeno's eyes widen at that, while Asia smiles happily besides him.

 _I've never seen him look so happy before. Did something happen yesterday?_ Rias thought.

 _Ara.. He seems like he's in a good mood today._ Akeno thought.

"Is there something on my face?" Issei asks while using his sleeve to wipe his face.

"No, nothing. You just seem to be a very good mood today. Did something exciting happen?" Rias asks him.

"Did you get laid?" Akeno asks with a perverted grin making Issei and Rias blush while Asia looks confused.

"No! It's not that. I guess I just finally found peace." Issei answers with a small smile with glazed over eyes as if he was thinking of something. Rias and Akeno look confused but don't ask when Tiamat appears out of nowhere.

"You ready, Issei?" She asks and notices his sword and smirks. "So you brought something else for me to increase the weight of?" she asks and Issei pales before handing it to her to enchant and nodding without hesitation. They head out for training.

"Buchou?" Asia asks. Kiba walks in at this time and sits down on the couch and grabs a cup of tea.

"Yes, Asia?"

"What's laid mean?" she asks innocently. Akeno bursts out laughing at Rias's embarrassed face, while Kiba spits out his tea.

"Maybe you should ask Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou about that." she answers with a bright red face. Asia nods and follows after Issei and Tiamat.

"I hope Issei's parents forgive me for leaving that to them.." Rias mutters to herself.

"It's almost that time, isn't it Rias?" Akeno asks suddenly serious.

"Yes. I don't see why they won't back off." she sighs and stares off into space.

~In Class~

Issei is taking a short nap at his desk before school starts. Katase comes running into the room with Murayama walking behind her. "Good morning Issei!" Katase calls out and he slowly wakes up.

"Mornin' Kat" Issei mumbles out while rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning, Issei." Murayama says politely.

"Good morning, Mura." he says with a smile. "How are you two this morning?"

"I'm great! I slept the best I have in a long time!" Katase says happily.

"I'm fine, but Katase's energy is making me feel tired." Murayama says while looking at Katase.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she says indignantly. Issei laughs at them.

"You two really are the best of friends, aren't you?" He asks with a smile. They both nod happily.

"Issei! I thought you hated them for beating on us all the time?" Motohama asks in anger.

"Who told you that?" Issei asks in confusion. "I've never hated either of them. We've been friends for years."

"If you were friends, why the hell did they always beat on us?!" the perverted duo exclaims.

"Because you are beasts." Katase answers bluntly and Murayama nods. "As for Issei, he could have stopped us from beating on him at any time he wanted. He was Japan's kendo champion four years ago after all." she says shocking the whole room.

"That pervert won the kendo championship?!" someone calls out.

"Who knew?" another states back.

"If he's that strong, he could have taken advantage of us!" a girl yells out. Issei decides to tune them out after that.

"Anyways, Issei. Do you want to join the Kendo Team? We could use your help taking Kuoh to the championships. On a few of our meets, some of the other schools members asked us if you were still doing kendo since they haven't heard of you in quite a while." Katase asks him.

"I'll think about it, I'm really busy lately, but it might be a good way to relax once in a while." He answers with a small smile. "I'd have to ask Buchou first though before I can decide."

~Late at Night - Issei's Room~

While Issei is asleep, he feels something land on top of him waking him up immediately and almost jumps out of bed. Looking down he spots Rias laying on top of him. "Buchou? Why are you here?"

"Issei, make love to me!" Rias says boldly while starting to strip making Issei blush.

"Why? What happened, Buchou?" He asks averting his eyes. "Stop striping, please."

"Why? Am I not good enough for you?" she asks him almost in desperation.

"It's not that, but why are you doing this Buchou?" He asked still averting his eyes.

"Because it's the only way out for me!" she yells before pinning him on the bed. "It's my first time, so please be gentle."

"Buchou, stop. Please. This isn't like you." he says while pushing her off of him. "Tell me what's going on." Rias opens her mouth to talk before she sees a magic circle light up in the middle of the floor.

"Tch, too slow." she mutters.

"I'm too late." a silver haired maid says as she appears in the room. "So this is your answer, Rias? You're trying so hard you'd run to some lowly peasant to attempt to escape?"

"If I don't go this far, none of you will listen to me." Rias's eyes narrow in anger. "And don't call my servants lowly, even if it's you Grayfia, I won't forgive you."

"I apologize, It was not my intention to insult you, Rias." the maid bows to Issei slightly. "Sorry for intruding in your house.." she trails off waiting for him to answer.

"Issei Hyoudou." he supplies. Grayfia's eyes widen in recognition.

"Ah, so this is this generation's Sekiryuutei, huh? It's an honor to meet you, Issei. I am Grayfia Lucifuge, a maid of the Gremory household."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Grayfia." Rias sighed from beside him.

"Grayfia, did you come here for yourself? or did mother and father send you? Or was it my brother?" Rias asks with narrowed eyes.

"All of the above, Rias."

"Can you explain to me what is going on?" Issei asks.

"I'll explain to everyone in the morning Issei. Be sure to stick around before leaving for your training in the morning." she stands up and redresses herself. "Let's go back to my place to talk, Grayfia. Am I aloud to bring Akeno with me?"

"The Priestess of Thunder? I don't see why not. A High Class Devil shouldn't go anywhere without their Queen."

"See you in the morning, Issei." Rias says before they both leave by a magic circle.

~The next morning - ORC Room~

Everyone is in the club room, waiting for Rias to explain what is going on. Grayfia is standing next to Rias, and Tiamat is leaning against the wall, heavily suppressing her aura and looking like she wants to be anywhere except there. "Do you want me to explain the situation, Rias?" Grayfia asks politely from where she's standing.

"No, I'll do it. You see, the thing is.." She gets cut off by a flames bursting to life in the middle of the room. "Phoenix.."

"Ah, the human words. It's been many years since Raiser stepped foot here." He dismisses Rias's peerage and walks up to her. "Raiser has come for you, Rias." He declares proudly before hearing someone burst out laughing. Everyone looks to where Tiamat is standing to see her laughing. "Who do you think you are, Bitch?!" Everyone besides Raiser and Grayfia's eyes widen in fear when her laugh breaks off and she glares at him.

"What did you just call me, you weak Yakitori?" She sneers out at him.

"Weak?! Yakitori?! I am Raiser Phoenix! Do not call me weak, you bitch!" he growls while walking towards and reaching for her shoulder. She grabs his hand and squeezes it until it breaks causing him to scream out in pain.

"Do not touch me Yakitori. And to think that I thought that I would never meet someone with more unfounded pride and arrogance than those two idiot dragons. Not even they were arrogant enough to talk about themselves in third person." she tells him with her eyes narrowed.

"Who the hell are you?!" He yells at her.

"You mean, you don't know?" She smirks cruelly at him. "I'll let you figure that out on your own if you try anything again." Raiser turns away from her and walks back to Rias.

"Anyways, let's go get married already Rias." He says while putting an arm around Rias.

"Let go of me Raiser." she says coldly and shrugs his arm off.

"No need to be so cold, my lovely Rias." he says with a smirk.

"Alright, who the hell are you?!" Issei yells at him. "You're clearly bothering Buchou, so just leave her alone!"

"Huh? Who are you?" Raiser asks with a bored expression. Issei gains a tick mark.

"I'm Issei Hyoudou! Buchou's Pawn!" Issei declares proudly.

"Oh, is that so? Doesn't matter" he dismisses Issei with a wave of his hand making Issei depressed for getting ignored.

"Issei Hyoudou, This is Raiser Phoenix, a full blooded devil, who is the third son of the head of the House of Phoenix."

"So?" Issei asks politely.

"He's also set to marry the heiress of the House of Gremory." Issei's eyes widen and looks at Rias. "He is engaged to Rias." Raiser has his arm over Rias's shoulder again and smirking.

"Dammit Raiser! I told you I won't marry you!" Rias yells heatedly while pushing him away.

"Are you going to damn your household, Rias? You know this marriage was set up to build up more pure blooded devils in our system." Raiser explains to her.

"I won't bring my household to ruin Raiser." Rias refutes.

"Great! Then we can.." Rias interrupts him.

"But I will not marry you Raiser! Besides, I was told that I am free until I graduate from a University"

"Dammit Rias! Be rational, your house is in a serious situation, do you really want it on your head if your house goes extinct?!" Raiser yells.

"I know my houses situation clearly, but I have a choice in who I will marry, and it will not be you!"

"You will be marrying me Rias, even if I have to burn your entire peerage and drag you back!" Raiser roars out before raising his hand above his head and forming a giant fireball. Rias flares her aura as well while the rest of her peerage get ready to fight.

"Raiser, Rias. Please stop this nonsense at once, or I will have to step in." Grayfia says calmly from the sidelines. Raiser and Rias start to sweat before calming down and releasing their auras. "Master Sirzechs and the House of Phoenix anticipated this outcome, and have come to a solution: An unofficial Rating Game Between Rias and Raiser." Grayfia explains.

"So they will go this far to manipulate me?" Rias asks in anger.

"Do you decline then, Rias?" Grayfia asks. Tiamat decides to speak up here before she answers.

"Are familiars aloud to be used in the Rating Game?" She asks. Grayfia looks at her and nods.

"They are. You never did give us your name, miss.." Grayfia asks calmly. Tiamat smirks.

"I'll tell you once they come to their decision." Grayfia's eyes narrow at her slightly before she nods and looks back at Rias and Raiser, noticing Rias's award winning smile and gets confused.

"Why are you so happy Rias? Do you really think that you can defeat Raiser?!" He declares arrogantly. "How about this, if you lose, we get married immediately. If Raiser loses.." he chuckles at the thought "Then you are free to do whatever you want." Rias smiles and looks at Tiamat who nods her head at her.

"I accept." Rias holds her hand out to seal the deal and Raiser shakes it.

"Is this your whole peerage, Rias?" he asks mockingly.

"So what if it is?" Rias asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Then the only one here who is a threat to my peerage is your queen." Raiser snaps his fingers and his peerage appears in a burst of flames. "I have a full set, while you only have five members, and who ever she is in the corner. You don't stand a chance." he smirks in triumph before everyone except his peerage and Grayfia bursts out laughing.

"Yeah right Raiser. The second Grayfia said familiars were aloud, you lost any chance you had in ever defeating us." Rias smirks at him making everyone in his peerage confused while Grayfia stares at Tiamat "But I'll give you a handicap of two weeks to increase the strength of your peerage to make it fair." Raiser gains a tick mark and growls in his throat.

"And why do I have no chance of defeating you exactly? I am an Immortal!" He declares. Tiamat walks up to him and stands in front of him with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Because I hate arrogant and prideful fools who have no reason to have that pride or arrogance." she says to him while he gets angrier.

"And who exactly are you that I should be worried about you?! You have almost no aura to you!" He nearly screams. Tiamat smiles ferally showing off her extremely sharp teeth and stops suppressing her aura shocking Grayfia and Raiser in it's intensity while knocking his entire peerage to their knees with it somehow unaffecting Rias's peerage.

"I am known as the Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat!" She declares with bloodlust in her voice. "I won't interfere in your Rating Game unless I have to, but even so, you should accept those two weeks and train. Train harder than you ever have in your life. As you are, in two weeks even Issei could defeat you, and he's only been a devil for a little over a month! Let alone having to deal with someone like me." Raiser pales and breaks into a cold sweat and walks backwards towards his peerage.

"Very well, I'll accept these two weeks. I didn't expect someone like Tiamat to be my opponent. Let's go, we need to train." He says to his peerage as they disappear in a flume of fire.

"Rias.. How exactly did your group manage to get someone like Tiamat as a familiar?" Grayfia asks while watching Tiamat warily. _Not even I could beat her. She's just too strong for me._

"You can thank Issei for that, Grayfia." Rias responds calmly. Grayfia turns to Issei with a raised eyebrow.

"How did you get Tiamat as a familiar, Issei?" she asks him. Issei shrugs and looks at Tiamat.

"I'm not really sure myself. I didn't expect her to become my familiar. I only sought her out to ask her to train me. She made that decision on her own." Grayfia's eyes widen comically.

"You.. sought out the most powerful Dragon King.. To train you?" she asks incredulously before turning to Tiamat. "If you don't mind, can you explain why you accepted a familiar contract with him?" Tiamat smirks.

"He interests me." she states bluntly surprising most of the room. "He's a dragon, and yet he willingly throws away his pride to help his friends. He doesn't care about the feud between him and the White One, even stating he'd be willing to be their friend. I've never heard of the host of Ddraig to ever not care about what the White One does. He is different from all the past generations of Sekiryuutei, and I want to see where he goes with that." Grayfia nods with a thoughtful expression. "Plus, I just want to torture Ddraig as much as I can." she remarks with a shrug making everyone face fault.

 _That's probably her main reason..._ Everyone in the ORC thinks at the same time. Grayfia composes herself.

"Very well then, I'll leave and inform both parties of what transpired here. We'll see you in two weeks for your rating game." She bows before disappearing in a magic circle. Tiamat clears her throat to get their attention.

"Now then, we're going to have a training camp for the next two weeks." She grins ferally at them all as they gulp in fear. "And don't expect me to go as easy on you as I have been on Issei. I don't want to waste my time kicking that Yakitori's ass if I don't have to."

 **Next Chapter will be the training camp and the rating game between Raiser and Rias's peerage. Before anyone says anything, Tiamat will have a very minor role in the match. She mainly stood up to Raiser to intimidate him into the two weeks of training. He will have the fear of Tiamat's participation hanging over his shoulder, making him make mistakes he normally wouldn't. She will mainly be on the side lines watching the fight to see how well they do, only to step in if there's no other option or to conserve the strength of others for something more important.(Ie, she'll take out the canonfodder in his peerage)**

 **I've had a few reviews saying who people want as members of Issei's harem.I will say this: Issei's harem will be his Peerage when he becomes a High Class Devil. This will happen sometime between Loki and the Heroes Faction in the story. I'll be making it so Azazel figured out a way to remove the Evil Piece's safely so any members that will be traded over from others can fit in his peerage. I won't reveal who else will be in his harem besides Tiamat, Asia and Koneko until it is revealed, or someone guesses them accurately, with which piece they will be, how many they are worth, and a reason why you think they would join(the reason doesn't have to correct, just want to know what your thoughts are). I said last chapter I would mainly only be including those who he inspires to move past their fears to get stronger. The only exceptions are Tiamat and Asia. Yes, I do know who I will be adding in it.**

 **In response to the one who pointed out why Issei wasn't promoted due to his safety: Thank you for reminding me of that. I went back to read that chapter, but I still feel as if that wasn't a very good argument. Issei just got out of a fight with a Norse God and won, albeit with a lot of help. In this story, he'll also have Tiamat by his side, severely limiting who would be dumb enough to attack him. He can defend himself for the most part, his only problem would be that they could probably easily manipulate him in politics because he doesn't know what he's doing yet. Which is why he needs a manager. ;) *hint***

 **Issei's Future Peerage:**

 **Queen(Mutation Piece): Tiamat**

 **Bishop X 2(1 Mutation Piece): Unknown**

 **Rook 1: Koneko**

 **Rook 2: Unknown**

 **Knight X 2: Unknown**

 **Pawn X 5: Asia**

 **Pawn X 3(All Mutation Pieces): Unknown**

 **Four of his Mutation Pieces are a reward from Ajuka for the four pawns he transformed, while the last is a random Mutation Piece he acquired.**

 **For anyone who makes a guess: With each person you name, you get only one choice for the Evil Piece they use. If you list multiple, I'll go with the first one you listed. I'll explain my full reasoning if they get called out correctly. I will say this though: One of his peerage will be a male, he will NOT be a part of Issei's harem, he's joining him for a different reason. If you figure out his reason, I'll announce him as well. A couple of them I will create a fake background separate from canon so they will fit in with the idea of getting past their fears. One of them will be related to the incident that happened to Issei in the past.**

 **Tiamat's reason for joining: She stated it earlier in this chapter. Go back and read it, that is seriously the only reason she's following him for now. She will gain more of a reason as the story unfolds, but her curiosity*cough* love of torturing Ddraig*cough* is the main reason for now. PS: This is the main reason Ddraig doesn't interact very much with Issei if anyone was wondering.**

 **Asia's reason for joining: Issei was her first friend. The first person to ever try to defend her. She's also a Dragon Tamer: This has a similar meaning as the one in canon where she attracts dragons, but there is another use for this title. Tiamat will help her train in this over time.**

 **Koneko's reason for joining: There is a hidden reason to be announced in the future. Can't go spoiling everything for you guys. But the current reason she'll follow him is because he's not afraid to die to protect what is precious to him. Koneko has always been afraid to use her powers because she's scared that she'll lose control and hurt everyone she cares about like her sister did. Issei's determination to protect them all is going to force her to make a choice earlier than in canon: Forever be scared and hiding in her shell, or release her restraints and become stronger to protect what she cares about.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Edited the chapter to make the paragraphs look less cluttered and fix some grammar errors. Thank you for pointing that out to me!**

 **I'm very surprised with the reviews from the last chapter! The majority of Issei's Peerage has already been figured out.**

 **TheLegendaryBalance figured out both of the Bishops, One of the Knights, The Rook, and one of the Pawns. NexusPrime42 figured out the second pawn. Where as a guest reviewer named Claer got the second Knight. Here is who is currently figured out:**

 **Issei's Peerage:**

 **Queen(Mutation Piece) - Tiamat**

 **Bishop(Mutation Piece)- Kuroka**

 **Bishop - Le Fay Pendragon**

 **Knight - Arthur Pendragon**

 **Knight - Murayama**

 **Rook - Koneko**

 **Rook - Rosseweisse**

 **Pawn X 5 - Asia Argento**

 **Pawn(Mutation Piece) - Ravel Phoenix**

 **Pawn(Mutation Piece) - Katase**

 **Pawn(Mutation Piece) - Unknown**

 **We're down to the last member of his Peerage! Who can guess her correctly? You get one guess on her.**

 **I'll give an explanation on why the new members will be joining him at the end of the chapter.**

 **Story Start:**

~At The Gremory Summer Retreat Mansion~

Tiamat is looking at Rias's peerage in disappointment. All of them are laying on the ground panting except Issei, who has already started his workout, and Koneko who is only slightly winded.. _All we did was walk up the mountain.. If this is the level they are at, I have a lot of work cut out for me._

"Get up you lazy asses!" Tiamat yells at them. "If you can't even manage to walk up a mountain, how the hell do you plan to take on Raiser's peerage?" every member of the ORC glares at Tiamat.

"You are fucking insane, Tiamat!" Rias yells out. "Why the hell did you make our clothes weigh 100 pounds?!" Tiamat cocks her head to the side confused.

"But only yours was 100 pounds." she says making Rias mad.

"Why did you make me carry so much more weight than them?!" She yells

"What are you talking about, Rias?" Tiamat asks. "Besides Asia's, your clothes weigh the least here." she responds calmly shocking Rias.

"W..What.. What do you mean mine is the second lightest?" she asks confused.

"You are a typical Pure-blooded devil, Rias. You refuse to exercise your body, hoping your magical ability will be enough to bail you out of tough situations. Hence why I started you out the lightest besides Asia, who will for the most part only ever be playing a support role due to her Sacred Gear." Tiamat explains to her. Rias looks angry at being told her body is weak.

"Then.. how much are the others carrying?!"

"Koneko is carrying 400 pounds." Everyone besides Issei and Koneko's eyes widen at this. "Akeno is carrying 150 pounds, Kiba is carrying 125 pounds, Issei is carrying 150 pounds, but I will probably be increasing that soon as I can't go easy on him anymore, and Asia is carrying 25 pounds." she explains calmly. "I figured since you all have been devils for so much longer than Issei has, that you'd at least have kept your body conditioned, but it looks like I was wrong in that." she sighs and rubs her temples. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us. We're going to be pushing you to double the weight you're currently carrying by the end of this week hopefully, as well as increasing the potency of your magic." She looks over and spots Issei doing pull ups on a low hanging limb.

"Issei, come over here. It's time to increase the weight of your clothes again." Issei nods and drops to the ground and runs over to Tiamat where her hand glows alongside his clothes. "There, you're up to 225 pounds. Don't push yourself too hard today, just get used to the weight for now. It's only been a couple of days since we increased it last time after all, and it took you almost a month to get used to the first 75 pounds." Issei salutes her.

"Yes mam! I'll just do some light jogging for today then." He says before turning and starting his jog.

"Asia, join Issei. You don't need muscle condition, you just need the stamina." She nods and jogs at a much slower pace after Issei. "Now for the rest of you. First off, Koneko. You don't seem very tired compared to the rest, do you want me to increase your weight, or do you want to get used to that for now?" she asks staring at Koneko who nods shocking the rest of them _Didn't Tiamat say she's carrying 400 pounds?!_ they all thought.

"I can carry more weight. I'd like to start at 600 pounds for now." Koneko answers monotone. Tiamat smiles proudly at her and adjusts the weight.

"At least one of you takes your training seriously. If it weren't for you and Issei, I'd have thought none of you cared about getting stronger." Tiamat tells to her making her blush slightly embarrassed while the rest growl in their throats. "I want you to work on your speed, Koneko. So start doing suicide drills for now. Do a 15 foot by 30 foot gap. We'll work out a further plan after I get these lazy asses to work." Tiamat says taunting the others trying to motivate them. Koneko walks away a bit and starts doing her sprints

."Now for Kiba. Would you say you're decently fast?" She asks him as he nods. "Alright, how long can you run for at full sprint?" Kiba thinks for a few seconds before answering.

"Ten minutes maybe, I'm not entirely sure as I've never tried." is his answer, which makes Tiamat growl.

"Seriously, do any of you three even care about getting stronger?!" She yells at them. "Kiba, I want you to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. When you can't anymore, stop and rest for a few minutes and start again. With stamina that pathetic, you'll never be able to last in a prolonged fight." She turns away from his without waiting for his response. "Now what to do with you two. You're mainly Magic users who have never trained their bodies." Tiamat taps her chin with her finger thinking before an evil grin spreads across her face making them pale.

"I'll start you on something simple: Pushups." She says which made them sigh in relief before she continued. "I want you both to give me 100 pushups without stopping. No enhancing your body with your magic. If your arms give out once, restart your count. Come find me if you complete that." She says before turning and walking away from them both.

"Akeno?" Rias says tiredly.

"Yes Rias?"

"Dragons are definitely insane." she says before getting started on her pushups.

"That they are" Akeno responds and joins her.

~With Koneko~

"That'll be good for now, Koneko. I'd like to talk to you for a minute." Tiamat tells her and walks into the forest until they're out of sight and sits down.

"What do you need, Tiamat?" Koneko asks tiredly.

"Sit down" Koneko sits in front of Tiamat and stares at her blankly. "Why won't you use your Nekomata powers?" Koneko's eyes widen and she starts to shake. "I see. So you're afraid to use them?" Koneko nods

"How did you know?" Koneko asks quietly.

"You're not the first Nekomata I've met, Koneko. I know what their aura feels like quite well.. But your aura seems quite powerful for just a Nekomata.. are you by any chance a Nekoshou?" Koneko nods her head, but doesn't respond. "Why are you scared of using your power, but are so willing to throw yourself into a brutal training program? I've noticed how you go home early every day after school, and the next day you look like you're going to pass out on your feet when you show up at school. That's not healthy for you." Koneko looks at the ground refusing to look at Tiamat. She bites her lip not wanting to answer."Well? Why do you do it, Koneko?" Tiamat urges her.

"Because.. Because Sempai is so determined to protect us. He willingly throws himself into an insane workout, and keeps going back for more. He acts as if his life means nothing, so long as we can be happy and live." Koneko is shedding silent tears. "But what about his happiness? He is the first one to volunteer himself as a sacrifice, even if you're a complete stranger, just to try and make you happy." Koneko's body starting to shake slightly.

"It makes me feel useless. I don't want to see him sad anymore! I don't know why, but he changed after Buchou revived Asia." she shakes her head slightly. "No, even before that. When she first died. He became so... so lifeless.. His eyes.. they looked like he just didn't care anymore, and then when Buchou said she could save Asia... There was just so much joy in his eyes... My chest felt warm when I saw that joy.. It's as if he was so happy at that one moment that even I felt it.."

Koneko clenches her fist over her heart and stares straight at Tiamat with tears flowing down her face. "So I started to think.. If I can become strong enough that Sempai can rely on my strength.. Would I be able to give him that kind of happiness? Would I be able to feel that warmth again if I brought him that joy?" her body shakes harder, with her trying as hard as she can not to break down completely.

"I started small.. I put an hour aside every day to get stronger.. Then I notice Issei started his workout.. he pushed himself until he collapsed every single day.. and then Buchou decides to get him and Asia familiars so he can relax and let his body rest for a little while.. when he heard.. his face broke out into a wide smile saying there was someone he wanted to find in the forest anyways.. We hoped that meant he would tone down his training... and then the next day he tells us he wants to find you.. we were all shocked not knowing why.."

Koneko is choking on her sobs now with Tiamat staring at her sadly."he... he says he wants to find you to train him.. that only a dragon can train another dragon.. knowing that you might have killed him without even waiting for him to talk.. he begged us to let him try.." Koneko covers her face with her hands. "And then when we met you.. he didn't care about anything else.. he just wanted to get stronger to protect us.. he... he begged you to help him.. he even offered himself to you to kill just so you could try and find some closure.. he knew he was walking to his death.. but even still he asks you to spare us.. he was protecting us.. even in what he thought of as his last moments.." Koneko finally breaks down completely, curling into a ball with her whole body shaking terribly and chocking on her tears.

"I'm useless... weak... I couldn't do anything.. All because I'm afraid to use my power.. so I started training harder.. each day I tried harder then the last.. It didn't feel like I was getting anywhere, while he seems to be getting stronger by the second.. and.. and then just the other day.. I saw his spar with that kendo club girl.. He beat her so easily.. but there was no happiness in him from it.." She turns her bloodshot eyes back to Tiamat. "He broke down.. he sat there and cried on her shoulder for an hour.. I don't know what happened to him, but something hurt him in the past.. it hurt him badly.. and yet he still finds the strength to stand up and move on... When I saw that.. I just felt so worthless.. like I don't deserve his kindness.. he's just so far above me.. he's moving up, while I'm still afraid to do anything..." She gets cut off as Tiamat hugs her tightly, comforting her.

After a few minutes of her crying into Tiamat's shoulder Koneko finally calms down and stares at her with a strong resolve. "Please help me, Tiamat!" Koneko asks and bows to her. "You're strong enough to stop me if I go out of control.. Please.. help me learn to use my power." Koneko begs her. "I don't want to be useless anymore. I want to be able to stand next to Issei proudly.. not behind him cowering like I have been." Tiamat smiles at her proudly.

"I can set aside a few hours every day to assist you. I don't know much about senjutsu or youjutsu myself, so I guess we learn together." Tiamat's smile turns to a smirk. "So it's "Issei" now, huh? What happened to "Sempai"?" Koneko blushes and looks away.

"I don't want to see him as better than me anymore... Even if it's just because he's older than me.. I want him to see me as an equal.. Someone he can rely on.." She mutters to herself.

"Then I guess we have some work to do, don't we?" Tiamat says with a smirk as Koneko smiles up at her and nods.

~A few days later~

Akeno and Rias are sparing in magic on one end of the field. Flashes of lightning and blasts of destruction flying everywhere. On the other end Issei and Kiba are sparing with their swords. Asia is sitting off to the side waiting in case anyone gets injured and needs healing... again, with Rassei sitting nearby napping. Tiamat walks out of the forest with Koneko trying to hide behind her.

"Alright, gather up everyone!" Tiamat calls out and their spar break off and they head over to her. "I'm impressed with all of you. You haven't given up yet, and you have all gotten significantly stronger." Everyone smiles at her. "Even with all of you accomplishments so far since we have started, one of you has impressed me the most." she smirks at their confused looks and steps aside and pushes Koneko forward. Rias and Akeno's eyes widen, Kiba's jaw drops, Asia squeals, and Issei freezes in shock.

 _Cuteness. Overload. Can. Not. Handle._ Are Issei's thoughts as his eyes roll into the back of his head and passes out. "Issei!" Asia calls in shock as Tiamat bursts out laughing.

"I told you his expression would be priceless!" Koneko shifts nervously under all their gazes as Issei wakes back up holding his head.

"Woah.. what happened? I think my brain overloaded.. What could have caused that?" Issei mutters before looking up and spotting Koneko again and his eyes widen. "I see. So that's what happened. Too much cuteness. That makes sense I guess." he says aloud without thinking. Koneko fidgets in place and her face turns bright red.

"Koneko, you're using your powers?" Rias asks her quietly in shock. Koneko nods slightly.

"I'm sick of being useless when Issei needs us." Koneko mutters out while clenching her fists. Everyone else besides Issei and Asia get guilty grimaces on their faces.

"Now we're going to have a match. All of you against me." Tiamat tells them "I want to judge exactly how far you have come in these last few days, and see where adjustments in your training program need to be made. This match will last for one hour. I'll remove your weight so I can judge you more accurately." She looks around seeing everyone get ready and smirks. "Start!"

~One Hour and a Massive Beat Down Later~

Tiamat is currently looking around at the field in thought looking at the group. Issei is the only one still standing currently, while the rest are exhausted. "Very good. Compared to five days ago, you would destroy your past selves. Issei, your magic is at an acceptable level. You should work on putting more strength behind your blows for now. Kiba, you're very fast, I can't deny that, but you seem to have gained tunnel vision. I want you to run at full speed until you can make out details around you with ease. Get used to your speed, tunnel vision will kill you if you're not careful." she looks around at the others thinking.

"Asia, you need to get faster. Getting to your comrades as quick as possible could be the difference of life and death. Try pouring your magic into your legs constantly, and continue your stamina training. Koneko, Your current training is doing wonders. You're not fast enough to make contact with many opponents you'll face, but if you land one blow, that's the end for a normal opponent. Go back to speed training for now, We'll cut back your training in your Nekoshou powers to an hour a day until you get to an acceptable speed."

She walks up to Rias and Akeno and looks at them both making them nervous. "You're both doing well so far, but you need to learn how to control your energy. Just making the largest blast of energy will get you nowhere. Moderate the amount of energy you put into each blast, focus it. Pouring all of your energy into one blow will get you nowhere besides being exhausted, especially against a Phoenix." she turns back to Asia. "I want you to meet me an hour a day with Rassei. It's time you get trained as a Dragon Tamer."

~The Day Before The Rating Game~

 _Raiser is in for a surprise._ Tiamat thinks while looking around at the ORC. "Take this last day to rest. You need all of your strength for tomorrow. Let's go home." They all nod and head home with relief on their faces.

~9:45 P.M. The Next Day~

"Do your best, Rias. All of the Maou are in attendance to watch this game." Grayfia tells them standing in the middle of the club room.

"All of them?!" Rias asks shocked. "What could have possibly made them all show up? I expected my brother, but the others as well?"

"You underestimated what would happen when Tiamat's presence here was discovered." Grayfia responds while nodding at Tiamat. "Tiamat is extremely powerful, on the level of the Maou's. Having her on your side has brought a lot of attention to your group, and everyone wants to see what the results will be."

 _So they want to know if we're going to rely on Tiamat, or if we're willing to get stronger ourselves, huh?_ Rias thought. _Then they should be in for a surprise!_

"Are you all ready? The game is about to start." Grayfia asks and sees them all nod. "Good luck, Rias." Grayfia says as she activates the magic circle transporting them to the artificial dimension.

 _"Welcome to the Rating Game between the Rias Gremory and Raiser Phoenix."_ Grayfia calls out over the intercom. _"The field was built as an open plain battle ground. The size of the field is two square miles. On the North side of the field lays Raiser Phoenix's base, and on the South side of the field lays Rias Gremory's base. Pawns will need to get to their opponents designated base to be allowed to promote."_

 _"This will be a Blitz Style battle that will last until Dawn or one of the King's surrenders. the Rating Game will start in ten minutes. Take this time to make any preparations you will need for the game."_

"Akeno, set up some illusions surrounding our base. Kiba and Koneko, set up traps and mark them on this map." Rias commands. "Asia, don't summon Rassei unless you need to. We want to keep him as a trump card as long as we can." Rias chews on her thumb. "Tiamat, I assume you'll just be flying around to cause panic?" She asks and sees her nod. "Issei, come here and sit down." Issei nods and sits in front her confused as she puts her hands on side of his head. His eyes widen as he feels a surge of energy pool into him. "I released a seal on your power. When I reincarnated you, I had to seal off the majority of your power as your body wouldn't have been able to handle it." Tiamat 'tchs' off to the side.

"No wonder he was so weak when we started." Tiamat mutters to herself. "I'll be above watching this play out. I don't want to get involved, so you better win yourselves." she announces before transforming back into a massive dragon and flying off.

~With the Maou~

"So it's true, they really do have Tiamat on their side." Ajuka Beelzebub says.

"I know, it's amazing when you think about it. The most powerful Dragon King, The most powerful breed of Nekomata, The user of Twilight Healing, The Sekiryuutei, The daughter of a leader of Grigori, a demonic sword creator, and the owner of Forbidden Balor View. All on the same team." Sirzechs Lucifer shakes his head in disbelief. "What kind of star was Rias born under, I wonder."

"I bet my Sona-tan could beat them!" Serafall Leviathan says excitedly.

"How will Raiser win this?" Falbium Asmodeus asks bringing everyone back to the game, as for once he's not sleeping.

~Back with the ORC~

"We're going to split into groups of two. Watch each others backs. Issei and Koneko will be one group. Kiba and Akeno another, and Asia will be staying with me. Let's win this!" Rias exclaims. "Take these communication devices so we can keep in touch."

"Right!" They all respond. Koneko's tail and ears are out and looks determined.

 _I don't need to be protected anymore!_ She declares in her head.

~With Issei and Koneko~

 _"Go in silent and fast. Don't let your enemy know you are there until it's too late"_ Tiamat's words of advice from one of their matches echo through their head as they spot a group of enemies. They're hiding behind a rock about 20 feet from them.

"Four pawns and their rooks." Issei whispers to Koneko. "You take care of the rooks while I take care of the pawns." She nods and gets ready to charge. "Go." he says quietly and they both launch out from behind the rock they are hiding behind. Koneko goes straight for one of the rooks, fast enough she is almost a blur to the six devils. The devils split up as she continues after the rook and lands a punch powered by senjutsu into her chest. The Rook's eyes widen as blood leaks from her mouth before she disappears.

"Xuelan!" The two green haired girls cry out not noticing Issei freezing the other two pawns solid, making them disappear as well. Koneko charges the other rook and kicks her in the ribs hearing a crack as she disappears as well. Issei flew at the other two pawns with his sword flashing as he cuts them both across the chest making them disappear.

"That.. seemed easy.. Too easy.." Issei says while both of them look at their hands.

 _"Two of Raiser's Rooks retired. Four of Raiser's Pawns retired."_ Grayfia announces.

Issei smirks and clenches his hands into fists. "Let's do this!" He yells and Koneko nods with a small smile on her face.

 _"One of Raiser's Bishops retired. Two of Raiser's Knights retired. Two of Raiser's Pawns retired."_ Grayfia announces again.

"Looks like Akeno and Kiba found their group." Issei remarks.

 _"Rias's Knight retired."_ Grayfia announces shocking the two of them. _"Two of Raiser's pawns retired."_

"Dammit, Kiba! What happened over there, Akeno?" Issei asks through the decide worriedly.

 _"Those two pawns were hiding on us and took him out from behind. He'll be fine, don't worry. Just keep heading to our meeting point!"_ Akeno calls back.

~With Raiser~

"Dammit! What's going on out there?! I thought Tiamat would be our only problem?!" Raiser screams out. "How have they taken out them all so quickly?!" He says while watching Tiamat flying warily. "Yubelluna, Take out as many of them as quickly as you can, and then find their queen and take her out." Yubelluna nods and takes off.

"Ravel, I'm going to need you to fight." He tells her and notices her shaking. "I know you're scared, but you should know that fire can't hurt you, Ravel. I need your help." Ravel nods nervously at him.

~With the Maou~

Anyone who walked in the room would burst out laughing at the expressions on most of their faces. Sirzechs has a proud smile as he watches, while the others jaws are wide open watching the nearly one sided massacre.

"What the hell is going on? I thought you said your sister's peerage weren't that strong yet, Sirzechs?" Ajuka asked.

"That rook is very fast. She closed in on them almost before they could even react. And it only took one hit to eliminate her opponents." Falbium says in thought.

"Are they really low class devils, Sirzechs?" Serafall asks seriously for once. "Rias's knight moved and defeated Raiser's knights so fast they didn't even see him until it was over. And her queen.. her lightning was just so powerful they had no chance to get away from it."

"Don't forget Issei though. He hasn't even used his Sacred Gear yet." Sirzechs comments with pride clear in his voice. "And to think we thought that Rias would be relying on Tiamat's strength alone" He breaks out laughing at the irony of that statement. "Tiamat has yet to do anything except fly around."

~With Issei and Koneko~

"Let's go, we have to meet up with Akeno, Rias and Asia" Issei says while starting to walk away. Koneko relaxes her guard and starts to follow him as an explosion engulfs her.

"Take. One more left." A voice calls out from above.

 _"Rias's Rook retired."_ Grayfia announces.

"Koneko?" Issei asks with wide eyes and starts shaking. _No! No, she'll be okay.. She retired and is getting healed already.. I have to focus._ "So the queen comes out, huh?" Issei asks her as he summons his Boosted Gear. **"Boost!"**

 _"Issei, what's happening over there? Issei?!"_ Rias calls out over the ear piece but he ignores her. _"Akeno! Find Issei and help him!" "On my way!"_

"Correct. You're all causing too many problems, so I'll have to eliminate you here." **"Boost!"** Yubelluna answers and turns to Issei raising her staff.

 _"Sorry Buchou, I ran into Ravel on my way towards Issei. I'm going to be stuck here for a while"_ Akeno states.

"Ta.." she gets cut off as Issei vanishes and reappears in front of her swinging his sword at her already. **"Boost!"** She dodges and prepares to blast him again when he freezes her arm. "Damn! This isn't good." She says as she flies higher and starts melting the ice off turning her attention away from Issei. **"Boost! ~ Explosion!"**

"Lightning Dragon Shot!" Issei roars out launching a massive bolt of lightning at Yubelluna, who is to slow to dodge it and causing an explosion. **"Reset!"** "Did I get her?" He asks out loud.

"Not.. Yet.." Yubelluna says weakly from inside the smoke. "I still have.. The Phoenix Tear.." as the smoke clears Issei sees a bottle in her hand that she brought to her mouth. His eyes widen as her wounds all vanish instantly. "Round two." she growls out and bombards Issei with explosions. The smokes clears to show Issei charred, but still standing.

 **"Boost! ~ Explosion!"**

Issei charges at her faster than she can follow and slashes her arm with his sword. **"Transfer!"** She backs away and hits him with another explosion, causing him to crash to the ground. "Freeze!" Issei roars out and Yubelluna screams in pain and falls to the ground holding her arm where he cut her.

"What did you do to me?" She asks through gritted teeth. He slowly walks towards her.

"I transferred my Ice Magic into your wound, freezing you from the inside out. Think of it as an extreme form of frost bite." He answers her out of breathe. "Take." He stabs her stomach and she disappears.

 _"Raiser's Queen retired."_ Grayfia announced as he spots Rias and Asia running towards him. Asia runs up to him and starts healing him.

"Are you alright, Issei?" she asks worriedly. He simply nods.

"I'll be fine, we're not done yet." Out of nowhere a massive fireball comes flying at them and blowing them in different directions.

"You're really getting on my nerves, you pests!" Raiser roars out as he's flying towards them. "No more playing around." he lands near Asia and forms a fireball in his hand. "Boy, retire or I'll kill her. If you leave, Tiamat will go with you." Issei's eyes widen and his body starts shaking.

 _No.. Not again! I've got to stop him! But how?!_ Issei panics in his head. _Should I just retire..? But then I'll be leaving Buchou on her own... What do I do?!_ Issei grabs his head as if in pain and falls to his knees.

"Did you hear me boy?! Retire or she will die!" Raiser screams at him and makes the fireball ever larger.

"Rassei!" Asia yells as loud as she can and a blue dragon the size of a bull dog appears out of nowhere and tackles and drags Raiser away from Asia. Tiamat is flying directly above them watching as Asia and Rias run to Issei.

 _You're almost there. You just need one more push, Issei!_ She thought and sees Raiser throw Rassei away. _You've done well raising that dragon in just two weeks, Asia. But it wasn't enough._

"Issei! Calm down. What's wrong?" Asia yells in panic while shaking Issei.

 _No.. I can't let it happen anymore.. I've got to get stronger.. I can't protect them like this.. Did I accomplish anything this last month and a half with Tiamat?!_ Issei roars out in his mind. The jewel on the back of his hand starts glowing brightly.

"Issei! Issei! wake up!" Asia begs him while hearing explosions behind her and looks back seeing Rias and Raiser fighting. "Buchou needs you!" Rias screams in pain behind her and Issei freezes.

 _No more. I have to protect them. I WILL protect them!_ Issei's aura sky rockets out of nowhere catching Raiser's attention as he was about to take out Rias.

"What's happening?" Raiser asks noticing his gauntlet glowing brightly and then dimming out, as if unsure what it wants to do.

"I WON'T LET ANYONE HURT ANYONE I CARE ABOUT EVER AGAIN!" Issei roars out as loud as he can. **"Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!"** a red armor forms over his body causing a crater to dig into the earth around him and blowing Asia away where Tiamat catches her before she gets hurt. He disappears as Raiser goes flying backwards. Issei is now standing where Raiser was before with his fist extended.

"You damn pest! Just stay down already!" Raiser screams out and unleashes his power causing a pillar of fire to rise high into the sky.

 **"Ha ha ha ha! You did it partner! You reached Balance Breaker!"** Ddraig roars out in glee. **"Now teach this Yakitori who the real predators of the sky are!"**

~With Ravel and Akeno~

"You can't defeat something immortal, Rias's Queen." Ravel taunts her.

"You don't seem to be trying to beat me either. You've yet to attack me at all." Akeno retorts slightly out of breathe. They both see a pillar of fire rising into the sky in the distance and Ravel freezes stiff. "They've started fighting. I've got to find a way to finish this!" she looks at Ravel seeing her face frozen in fear. "What's wrong with you?" Akeno asks with narrowed eyes. Ravel starts hyperventilating and falls towards the ground. Akeno rushes to catch her. "Hey?! What's wrong?!" Akeno tries to snap her from her trance. Ravel doesn't respond and starts convulsing in her arms. Akeno yells to the sky. "Retire her already! She's having a panic attack! She needs help!"

~With the Maou~

"Shit, what's happening?" Sirzechs runs to the phone and calls Grayfia. "Retire Ravel already! We need to get her out of there!"

"What caused that kind of reaction?" Ajuka asks with wide eyes. "I've never seen someone have such an extreme reaction."

"I'm not sure. We're going to have to figure this out though." Falbium responds with a finger on his chin in thought.

"I don't care if it's against the rules! Get that girl out of there Grayfia!" Sirzechs screams into the phone. They all watch as Ravel's body disappears from the screen where Akeno has been screaming at them to help her for the last few minutes.

 _"Raiser's Bishop has been forced to retire."_ Grayfia's voice is heard from the intercom.

"Thank you, Grayfia." Sirzechs sighs in relief before hanging up.

~With Issei~

Issei and Raiser are just glaring at each other. Neither of them making a move.

 _"Raiser's Bishop has been forced to retire."_ Grayfia announces making Raiser's eyes widen.

 _Ravel? Forced to retire? I didn't retire her.. Then did someone else force her out?_ Raisers thoughts are going a mile a minute trying to figure out what happened until he remembers his pyre of flames. _Shit! I didn't think it would affect her from this distance. Please be alright, Ravel!_

"I don't have the time to sit around anymore. I need to end this now." Raiser says while condensing his fire into his fist. "I'll end it with one blow." Issei and Raiser charge at each other cocking their fists back. **"Boost!x20"** Their fists collide causing a massive explosion blowing them both away from each other. They both slowly stand up and stare at each other, Issei looking worse with parts of his armor destroyed and breathing heavily.

"How the hell did you survive that?" Raiser asks in disbelief. "You're a monster. You're a fucking monster kid!" he condenses his flames into his fist again and charges at him again and hits him while Issei tries to block but can't get his arms up in time. His armor shatters and falls off while Issei struggles to try and stand up but keeps falling over. Raiser's eyes widen in fear seeing this and rushes to condense his flames again.

"You're not normal! You shouldn't even be alive after that!" He says while charging at him again. Rias and Asia scream in fear from where they are as someone drops down in front of Issei and creates a barrier blocking Raiser's flames.

"You're pathetic." Tiamat says while glaring at him. "You'd attack him, even when he can't even fight anymore? You disgust me." She cocks her fist back coating it with energy and punches him in the face knocking him out instantly. "You lose." she says and turns back to Issei seeing him collapse unconscious. "You did well, Issei. Good job" she says softly and picks him up as the magic circle activates taking them from the field.

 _"Rias's Pawn retired."_ Grayfia announces as Raiser slowly disappears as well.

 _"Raiser Phoenix has lost. Rias Gremory has won the Rating Game!"_ Grayfia announces.

 **Ravel has a fear of Fire. The reason will be revealed in the future, but you are free to guess what happened. The reason Raiser's peerage lost so easily is because he focused on training himself, Ravel and Yubelluna the most. The rest of his peerage was left on their own to train for the most part. That's how Ravel held off Akeno with ease and Yubelluna defeated Koneko in one strike while the rest of his peerage didn't stand a chance against them. I didn't write Akeno and Kiba's fight because it was nearly the same thing that happened with Issei and Koneko. They finished off the group with ease and were shocked at how easy it was. While they were distracted the two pawns attacked him from behind and takes him out.**

 **Rassei's growth spurt will be explained in the future. Akeno never showed up because she was still in shock about what happened with Ravel.**

 **Raiser's peerage were in larger groups because of Tiamat being around. He wanted them to at least be able to defend themselves with her around, so he sent out larger groups.**

 **I've gotten many questions about why I won't be adding Rias in his harem, so I'll answer it for all of you at once. I have a plan for Rias in the future. She's going to end up being his Rating Game rival in the end. Her Peerage will be rebuilt with different members in the end. Rias's main problem is her self confidence. Issei becoming so powerful will drive her to become stronger, but Issei is going to be her goal, not someone she relies on. Issei's Peerage members will NOT be a part of both of their Peerages. They will belong to only one peerage.**

 **As for Asia being worth 5 Pawn pieces for Issei instead of the 3 a Bishop is worth is because of her being a Dragon Tamer, which will be explained next chapter. Her Bishop is going to mutate to compensate for that. When she was first reincarnated, her only ability was her Twilight Healing, which is no longer true.**

 **Koneko breaking down to Tiamat wasn't how she wanted it to go. Koneko only planned to explain a little, but once she started she couldn't stop. So she broke down. She admitted everything to her except for her sister. Many of the things Koneko tells her was new to her, and she starts looking at Issei differently from now on.**

 **Now on to Issei's peerage: I am honestly surprised that Le Fay and Arthur were guessed so quickly. Because of that, I will have to be watering down their reasons for following him a lot for a few more chapters. Everything will eventually be explained, so just be patient.**

 **Kuroka's reason for joining: Her reason is very similar to Koneko's. But she doesn't fear her power itself, she fears what it will do to Koneko because of her using it. That's why she ran away and left her alone. She was scared that Koneko would hate her because of what she did. She didn't leave Koneko behind to protect her, she left her behind because she was scared what she would think about her.**

 **Le Fay Pendragon's reason for joining: There's really not much that I can say about this yet. All I can say is that it's related to the event that happened to Issei in the past.**

 **Arthur Pendragon's reason for joining: He's following his sister to protect her. He's one of the two people who knows what really happened in the past.**

 **Rosseweisse's reason for joining: She gained a fear over time that because she was a prodigy in norse magic that she scared everyone away from her. She refuses to use her magic unless she has no choice, she stopped studying, and lets her skills get rusty. When her and Odin visit, she watches Issei's training with Tiamat and is amazed. She had thought her skill was pushing others away the entire time, and Tiamat's power makes her feel inadequate. She sees how close they are and slowly comes to a decision that it wasn't her power that people wouldn't approach her for, letting her finally find some peace and get stronger again.**

 **Ravel's reason for joining: After she recovers from her panic attack, she requests to watch the rest of the Rating Game. She watches Issei's own panic attack happen, and how he pushed himself through it, all because his friends were getting hurt. She watches him keep trying to get up even when his body is beyond it's limits. She's very similar to Koneko in where she starts to hate herself and forces herself to confront her fear. She's going to put Issei up on a pedestal.**

 **Murayama and Katase's reasons for joining: Their fears revolve around what happened to Issei, that it was their fault that they couldn't stop it from happening. Issei was the strongest person they knew back then, and they were forced to watch him break apart, unable to help as he pushed everyone away. They pushed themselves harder in kendo so they could help him next time if anything happened. They'll both be introduced to the supernatural on accident, showing up looking for Isse during one of his training sessions with Tiamat.**

 **Murayama's piece choice has a reason. Murayama will be the Knight because she's going to decide to focus strictly on the sword, and attempt to master it to a level never heard of before. She will receive Ascalon from Issei as a gift later on, after they learn she was a natural born holy sword wielder.**

 **Katase will become a Pawn because while she will still keep in practice with a sword, she's going to also ask for instruction in magic. She's going to take after Issei as an all-rounder kind of fighter.**

 **We're down to our final member! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm going to rant about season 3 for a minute here. Feel free to skip it if you don't care.**

 **Why did they even bother with this season? They absolutely butchered every single thing about the next four or five light novels in one season. They should have stuck to the two LNs per season that they were doing. Koneko and Akeno's character development in Volume 5 was destroyed. The rating game never happened. Loki came in two novels early. Rosseweisse was made to look weaker than she is. Vali never made an appearance against Loki. Diodora was supposed to happen BEFORE Loki. Akeno's date happened before Issei even asked her out on it. Baraqiel didn't get his overprotective father moment. Juggernaut Drive was undermined greatly with how they snapped him out of it. The last three episodes I refuse to even acknowledge. Did they really undermine the entirety of Volumes nine and ten in those three episodes? Issei's fear of commitment is irrelevant now, whether they try to write it in or not, the last three episodes undermined that entire plotline. Loki's curse... do I even have to explain that? And they revealed Illegal Move Trianna, which is Issei's solution to Juggernaut Drive, by Ajuka HANDING IT TO HIM ON A SILVER FUCKING PLATTER!... Now they have a further plot hole in Volume twelve on Ajuka inspecting his Evil Pieces.**

 **I highly doubt a season four will come about. Reason? They've screwed over some of the major plot developments for volumes nine, ten and twelve all with three episodes. If they ended it without Loki's curse bull shit, they would have had something to work with for a future season.. but now it will be extremely hard to work in the major character developments that happen in those three novels without looking like dumb asses.**

 **Rant over, onto my story!**

 **I'm amazed with the reception this story has gained. I started writing this thinking I'd have a few followers and such, slowly being forgotten as one of those alright/not so good fanfics, as I thought I would be the only one interested in it, and I end up with over a hundred followers, over fifty reviews, and about a dozen PMs within a week of posting the first chapter! Thank you greatly for your support, everyone!**

 **As for Issei's last peerage member: I made a mistake last week. She had already been guessed, but I miss read their message thinking that she was placed a bishop. It is in fact Kunou! Reason will be at the end of the chapter. But I have a question: How old is she really? I know she's just starting up middle school where the LNs leave off right now, but would that make her eleven or twelve? Doesn't really matter much in the long run, just something I'm curious about as I couldn't find it anywhere.**

 **I've had a lot of people suggest Akeno as well.**

 **The reason Akeno is not a member of Issei's peerage is that I view Akeno's reluctance to use her powers are born more of hatred, than fear to use them. She blames Baraqiel for everything that happened, and refuses to acknowledge him as her father. If it was fear, she would have run the other way in fear when he showed up on their date. Instead, she got pissed off and lashed out at him. Which is why I feel she's not afraid to use her powers, but rather refuses to use them to reject Baraqiel's existence to herself, that to use them would mean she accepts him as her father,and forgives him for letting her mother die. The only thing I personally saw her afraid to do was accepting her emotions towards what happened the way her heart does, but then many of you may view it differently than I did, and that's fine, as it's all about how you interpret it yourself! :D**

 **Story Start:**

~With The Maou A Few Hours After The Rating Game~

"How's Ravel doing?" Ajuka asks starting their meeting.

"She's stable for now. The doctors believe she should wake up in a few hours. Her parents said she has a fear of fire from an event from her childhood." Sirzechs speaks up.

"And they allowed her to participate in Rating Games with that fear?" Falbium asks in disbelief.

"Raiser apparently convinced them she got over her fear so he could have her to complete his 'collection'." Sirzechs replies in disgust. "She'll be traded to Lady Phoenix as soon as Raiser recovers so this won't happen again." making the others sigh in relief.

"On to more important matters, namely Tiamat." Falbium brings up.

"What about her?" Serfall asks confused.

"She's a wild card. She's powerful enough to be able to destroy half of the underworld before we could stop her. Until we know what her motives are, not the excuses she gave Grayfia, we'll have to treat her as a threat." Falbium says darkly.

"I'm not sure that will be needed." Sirzechs says confusing the others. "She's highly protective of Issei, as proven by how she didn't interfere in the game until he himself was put in danger. She could have jumped in when Asia or Rias were caught by Raiser and ended the Rating Game whenever she wanted, but she waited until Issei specifically was in trouble to get involved." he explains further making them nod in understanding.

"If that is true, then how should we go about Issei? His potential is nearly limitless with the Boosted Gear, and with a trainer of Tiamat's caliber, he will grow unimaginably fast." Ajuka asks.

"Perhaps put him on the fast track to being a High Class Devil?" Falbium says more of a statement than a question.

"What good would that do?" Serafall asks confused.

"If she's as protective of him as she seems, and we go by what she told Grayfia, it would mean she will likely follow Issei far enough to even join his peerage if he wants one." Falbium explains. "If she joins the Devil's Side, we'll gain a major morale boost, as the younger devils will feel safer, as well as Issei climbing up the ranks quickly will damage the pride of our lazier High Class Devils, making them feel threatened of their positions and force them to train harder to keep up with a complete novice."

"I agree, though unconventional, Issei's rise in power should keep track with his ranking if he keeps gaining strength as fast as he has been. We'll have to go about it differently though. We'll never get the backing from the elders for a reincarnated devil for a few years at least, so we'll have to go by Field Promotion. We'll keep watch for now, and push for a Field Promotion as soon as he does something worthy." Sirzechs tells them and they all nod. "Now, onto other business..."

~At the ORC~

"Will Issei be alright, Tiamat?" Rias asks in concern.

"He'll be fine. He just used all of his stamina in the Rating Game. He should be awake tomorrow." Tiamat explains boredly.

"Do you know why he had that panic attack, Tiamat?" Akeno asks.

"I do not. I won't pry into his secrets, they are his alone. If he wants us to know, he will tell us." Tiamat says daring them to argue.

"Very well. Let's go home and rest. We all deserve it after that game." Rias says while standing up.

~Next Day - At School~

"Issei!" a familiar voice yells out as he walks through the gate with Asia beside him.

"Good morning, Kat." Issei responds tiredly. _Should have stayed in bed for another day_

"Where have you been? The whole Occult Research Club just disappeared and no one knew anything about it!" Katase says disappointed.

"We went on a field trip, that's all Kat." Issei replies with a yawn.

"You could have told me you were leaving though!" Katase pouts.

"Sorry, I'll remember next time."

"You better! Are you alright though? You look like you're about to collapse." She says with concern and notices Asia flinch but says nothing.

"Didn't get much sleep last night, that's all." Issei responds with another yawn. "I'll be fine after I get a good nights rest tonight."

"If you say so." she says with narrowed eyes before turning to Asia."So what's it like living at Issei's house?" Asia visibly perks up and smiles innocently.

"It's so much fun! Mother and Father are so friendly, and recently they seem to have become happy about something." Asia doesn't notice Katase look over at Issei who is almost asleep on his feet. "It's like all of their burdens have been lifted from their shoulders, and they can finally relax." Asia says with a innocent smile.

"I bet it deals with this guy here." Katase says while jerking her thumb at Issei. "He's probably had them so worried because of having no proper friends besides the two perverted idiots." _Thankfully he's not pushing others away anymore.._ "They probably regained faith in him beyond his beast-like tendencies." Katase says with a teasing grin at him.

"Hey!" Issei says indignantly. "I wasn't that bad!" Katase deadpans at him.

"Yes you were." She says flatly.

"Good morning Katase, Issei, Asia." Another familiar voice speaks out coming towards them.

"Mornin', Mura." Issei calls out with a wave.

"You're late today, Murayama. You oversleep or something?" Katase asks.

"Yeah, just didn't feel like getting out of bed." She looks at Issei out of the corner of her eyes and smiles. "Welcome back by the way, Issei. Did you have fun?" Murayama asks.

"Yeah, It was pretty exhausting, but we had fun, and made some new memories." Issei responds with a small smile.

"Hey Issei, I was wondering something.." Katase says looking nervous. Murayama looks at her with narrowed eyes. _She wouldn't.._ Murayama thought.

"What is it, Kat?" Issei asks confused. Katase fidgets a bit before shaking her head.

"Nevermind, It doesn't matter." She responds with a fake smile. Issei narrows his eyes at her a bit but nods anyways.

"You can talk to me about anything Katase, I hope you know that." He supplies with a small smile as he pats her head making her blush.

"Yeah, I know Issei." Katase says with a genuine smile this time. "It's nothing though, don't worry about it." She grabs Murayama's arm and starts dragging her away. "We gotta go! We got practice before school starts, see ya later, Issei!" she says with a wave over her shoulder.

"Huh, what's with her this morning?" Issei mutters to himself before turning to Asia. "Let's go see Buchou." Asia nods and they head towards the club room. _What was she going to ask me?_ Was his thoughts as they entered the old school building.

~With Katase and Murayama~

"What was that about, Katase? I thought we had a deal?" Murayama asks with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, but you remember those things he was always spouting while he was still acting the pervert. The idea had to come from somewhere after all. Maybe we don't need to fight over it..?" Katase says with a red face. Murayama sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose.

"Maybe you're right, but we don't know that for sure."

"It wouldn't hurt to try though.. right?" Katase says meekly.

"I guess not.. But why would you even want to do that?" Murayama asks confused. _Could I even do that myself..?_

"If it would make Issei happy, then I would be glad to. It would make it more than worth it, even if I wouldn't be entirely happy about the situation, I would still be happy enough to know that I can be there for him when he needs me." Katase says making Murayama's eyes widen.

 _If it could make Issei happy, I'd do anything.. but should I really accept this as is?_

"If you can't do it, I understand. I just want what is best for Issei right now, and if that doesn't include me, then I will back off entirely." Katase says making Murayama's thoughts grind to a halt. _She'd back off..? But..._

"No. I understand, Katase. I couldn't let you do that just because of me." Murayama says softly. "I'll give it a shot, but I won't make any promises." Katase nods and they head to the dojo to do their morning practice, both of their thoughts elsewhere.

~With The ORC~

"Good morning Buchou." Issei says tiredly as he enters the room.

"Good morning, Issei, Asia. Did you sleep well?" Rias asks without looking up from her paperwork.

"I could use some more sleep, but I feel fine." Issei says as he sits on the couch.

"I slept great, thank you Buchou." Asia says while sitting next to Issei. Koneko walks in silently and goes straight to Issei and sits on his lap surprising the others in the room.

"Are you alright, Koneko?" Rias asks in shock. Koneko simply nods and starts eating a lollipop. Rias shakes her head. "I'm not even going to ask." Tiamat shows up at this time and looks at Koneko curiously for a second before grinning.

"We'll start up again tomorrow, Issei. You get one last day of rest, then we'll be taking your training up another notch. With Balance Breaker unlocked, any restraints your body may have had before are now unlocked." Tiamat says before sitting across from Issei.

"That's fine, I can't slack off for too long after all. I lost to Raiser. I need to get stronger." Issei says while clenching his fists. Koneko lets out her ears and tail and leans back into Issei, nuzzling against him causing him to relax and start petting her head. She purrs and wraps her tail around his arm.

"You're not alone anymore." She whispers softly so only he can hear causing his eyes to widen and smile at her warmly. Everyone besides Tiamat looks at the scene frozen in shock, including Kiba and Akeno who just walked in. Tiamat is calmly watching with a fond smile on her face.

 _So she figured it out, huh?_ Tiamat thinks back to their training in Senjutsu and Ki. Koneko has been trying to learn to manipulate her energy to have a calming effect on those around her. _She's come a long way from two weeks ago._

 _His Ki is so warm.. It makes me so relaxed._ Were Koneko's thoughts as she continues to purr with her eyes closed. She leans up and licks Issei's neck. Her eyes snap open as she remembers there are others in the room and she buries her face into his chest with a furious blush.

"Are you alright, Koneko?" Issei asks slightly in shock. She shakes her head still buried in his chest.

"There's no need to be embarrassed about having a crush Koneko!" Tiamat teases her. Koneko glares at her with a red face as the rest of the rooms jaws drop and Issei's eyes widen.

"You promised you wouldn't say anything.." Koneko pouts.

"I didn't need to. You pretty much just admitted it with your actions." Tiamat says with a grin making Koneko's face turn even more red. Koneko's eyes narrow before she smirks.

"Are you jealous, Tiamat?" Koneko says as Tiamat's eyes widen.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tiamat denies while looking the other way.

"He's mine." Koneko says possessively. Asia pouts at Koneko as Tiamat's eyes narrow. The rest of the room looking back and forth between Tiamat and Koneko unsure of what to do.

"Is that a challenge?" Tiamat says heatedly. Koneko smirks at her again.

"I thought you didn't know what I was talking about?" Tiamat blushes slightly and looks away again.

"I don't." she says simply. Koneko smiles and leans into Issei again.

"Then you won't mind if I take him for myself." Tiamat glares at her.

"I want Issei too!" Asia says innocently making everyone turn towards her in shock.

 _What the hell is going on here?_ Issei thinks desperately.

"This is insane.. Dragons..." Rias mutters to herself as Akeno giggles and Kiba gives up trying to figure out what is happening.

 **"Hahahaha! Tiamat falling in love with my host! I never would have guessed!"** Ddraig roars out while laughing. Tiamat glares at Issei's hand as he gulps. Koneko quickly jumps off of Issei and under the table while the rest of the room face palms.

"DDRAIG!" Tiamat roars out and punches Issei through the wall and into a tree outside. Asia runs over to the hole in the wall and sees Issei on the ground with stars floating around his head.

"Issei!" She cries out and jumps out of the hole after him. Meanwhile Tiamat is rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

~The Next Morning~

"During all of our training sessions from now on you will be in Balance Breaker form as long as you can." Tiamat instructs Issei as she creates a barrier to conceal their presence. "We'll adjust the weight of your clothes based on your limit in that form" he nods. He's currently wearing 300 pounds after the training camp.

 **"Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!"** Ddraig yells out. His armor forms and his aura sky rockets.

"Good. Now let's increase your weight. Tell me when it starts to get too heavy." Her hands glow at the same time as Issei glows and the weight begins to increase.

"Stop." Issei says as he sags forward under the weight.

"Not bad." Tiamat comments with a nod. "You're up to 550 pounds, including the weight of that armor, which I assume weighs about 200 pounds on it's own." She shifts into her fighting stance. "Come." She says simply and he charges at her.

~An Hour Later~

Issei's armor shatters and he collapses to the ground exhausted.

"So your current limit is an hour in that form. Very good for your second transformation." Tiamat says proudly. "We'll continue this training until you can hold it for a full day." He nods tiredly at her.

"After you reach your limit every day with your balance breaker, I'll be teaching you how to sense the aura of the creatures and objects around you. Once you get a grasp on that, you'll start to learn more advanced Dragon Magic." Issei stands up looking exhausted but determined.

Tiamat smirks at him. "Let's get to work!"

~The End Of The Week~

"I wonder what Issei is always doing. He hasn't stopped by to have a spar with us at all this week." Katase says with a pout.

"Let's follow him after school." Murayama says and then blushes. "Just to see what he's up to, nothing else." She quickly tried to explain. Katase grins at her.

"You sure that's your only reason? I wouldn't mind following him just to stare at him." she says teasingly. Murayama's blush grows and tries to respond but just keeps stuttering.

"I'm joking, Murayama. Let's just figure out what he's doing." She says and Murayama nods slightly.

~A Clearing In The Middle Of The Forest~

Issei walks up to the blue haired woman that she saw Issei with the day they had a spar.

"Who's that?" Murayama whispers to her while they are hiding in the trees.

"Issei said she's his instructor in martial arts. I met her a couple weeks ago." Katase whispers back. "Why do they need to come way out here though?"

"I'm not sure." Murayama says as their bodies stiffen as a wave of energy comes over them creating a wall of sorts around the forest. "What was that?" she asks with wide eyes. Before anything else can be said another wave of energy flows over them.

 **"Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!"** They hear an eerie voice call out as a red armor forms over Issei. Both of their jaws drop.

"Wh...What the hell is that?!" Katase almost shouts. Murayama simply shakes her head in shock. They watch Issei and the blue haired women disappear, and blasts of wind shake the trees around them. They both reappear and start shooting Ice and Lightning at each other.

"Is.. Is that magic?" Murayama asks still in shock. Katase simply nods her head with wide eyes. They see the blue haired woman charging a massive bolt of Lightning making their eyes widen in fear as she throws it at him.

"Issei!" They both scream in fear and Issei and the woman turn their heads straight at the two girls hiding, as Issei gets struck by the lightning and gets blown away. They both run towards Issei as his armor disappears and is unconcious.

"Tch, who are you, and why are you here?" The blue haired woman asks annoyed.

"What the hell did you do to Issei?!" Katase screams her. "You could have killed him!"

"If that was enough to kill him, he would have been dead over a month ago." the woman says while rolling her eyes.

"Who the hell are you?!" Katase screams again as Murayama is trying to wake up Issei.

"My name is Tiamat." She answers calmly. "And who are you two?"

"We're Issei's friends. Why were you attacking Issei?" Tiamat raises an eyebrow.

"We were training." She answers simply.

"What was that armor he was wearing? And was that magic?" Murayama asks still trying to wake up Issei.

"That armor is his Sacred Gear, a tool given to some humans by God Of The Bible. And yes, that was magic. Why do you ask?" Tiamat answers boredly. _I'll probably have to erase their memories after this.._ She thinks in her head.

"And Issei has been learning to use magic? Why?" Katase asks with narrowed eyes, ignoring the part about God. _This is insane! Magic is actually real?!_

"Because he's a part of the supernatural world, as you would call it. He became a devil about two months ago." Katase and Murayama's eyes widen at this. _Two months ago? That was about when he started to change..._

 _"I got my priorities straight, that's all."_ They both remember him say a couple of weeks ago. Katase smiles softly as she closes her eyes.

 _"I've found something worth protecting again."_ She remembers the resolve burning in his eyes when he said that.

"So these devils are what he found to protect this time?" Katase asks softly making Tiamat's eyebrow rise again.

"This time? Was he like this at some point before?" Katase opens her eyes and looks at Tiamat with a smile.

"Yeah, he changed a few years ago into the perverted beast that most people know him as now. Before that he trained in kendo so he could protect his friends." She answers with a sad smile making Tiamat's eyes narrow.

"What changed?" Katase and Murayama both glare at her.

"If you want to know, ask him yourself. It's not up to us whether he wants you to know or not." Murayama says heatedly. Tiamat nods and sees Issei waking up.

"Welcome back to the living, Issei." Tiamat says smiling fondly at him. Issei opens his eyes and sees Katase and Murayama making his eyes widen.

"Kat? Mura? Why are you here?" He asks nervously, sitting up.

"We followed you after school." Katase says with a glare. "When were you going to tell us about all of this?"

"Uh.. Never?" Issei says timidly making them both glare darkly at him.

"And why not?" Murayama asks through ground teeth.

"I didn't want you to be involved?" Katase hits him over the head.

"Idiot! Did you really think we'd never find out?" She says with a pout. "We worry about you Issei. We don't want you to be alone anymore." she says quietly while looking at the ground.

Issei looks at the ground disappointed in himself for still thinking he can do everything without involving others.

"So you're a devil as well, Tiamat?" Murayama asks her making Katase look up at her.

"No, I'm not a devil."she responds.

"Then what are you?" Tiamat smirks slightly.

"I'm a dragon. As is Issei, though he is only part dragon." She answer shocking them both.

"A Dragon?! They're real too?! But you don't look like a dragon!" Katase screams out.

"Yes, girl. Almost everything you humans consider myth or legends is real. Gods, Ghosts, Yokai, Dragons, Angels, Devils. The list goes on, and they all exist." She explains shocking them even more. "And here is your proof!" Tiamat morphs into her dragon form and roars to the heavens.

"What can you do with magic exactly?" Murayama asks slightly in fear of the massive blue dragon towering over them.

 **"Just about anything, it all depends on your imagination really. You can heal, destroy, command the elements, reinforce your body. So much more as well."** Tiamat answers and reverts to her human form. _Why am I actually answering them? I'm just going to erase their memories anyways.._ She trails off noticing the determination in the two girls eyes and quirks an eyebrow at them.

"Can you teach us how to use magic?" Katase asks shocking Issei and Tiamat. "If it'll make it so I can help Issei, I'd do anything." She says with a small fire burning in her eyes. Murayama nods with a similar fire in her eyes.

Issei closes his eyes and wipes away his unshed tears. _Why do so many people want to help me? I don't deserve it._ An image of one of his childhood friends tied to a post flashes in his memory and he starts to shake. He feels two hands on his shoulders as someone pulls him into a hug.

The memory disappears and is replaced by images of Tiamat, Koneko, Asia, Katase and Murayama, along with the rest of the ORC. _Never again. I'll never let anyone take who I care about again._ He thinks as he opens his eyes to see Katase hugging him while Murayama and Tiamat have a hand on each of his shoulders.

Katase leans back and looks in his eyes and gasps in shock. His eyes hold a powerful determination as the flame she saw in his eyes before rages into an inferno. She blushes as he turns his gaze to her and smiles. Her eyes flicker to Murayama and Tiamat who are looking at her smirking. Her face grows a devious grin making them narrow their eyes at her.

"Hey Issei?" Katase says quietly making him turn his attention on her alone.

"Yes, Kat?" He asks with a smile. His eyes widen as she leans in and kisses him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pushing him on his back. He nervously wraps his arms around the small of her back and returns the kiss. Out of nowhere Katase is pulled off of him and he sees her pouting while being held off the ground by an angry Tiamat.

"What was that for?" Katase asks still pouting. "It was just starting to get good!" She looks around and sees a depressed Murayama poking at the ground with her finger and muttering to herself.

"What's wrong with her?" Katase asks. Murayama turns and glares at Katase.

"What.. just happened?" Issei asks in a daze. Katase smirks, still being held off the ground by a fuming Tiamat.

"I kissed you. That's all." Tiamat growls, while Murayama's glare increases. "What's with you two?" She asks nervously.

"You kissed him!" Murayama yells at her. "We promised that neither of us would make a move before he decides!" she says while pouting. Katase rubs the back of her head sheepishly.

"Oh yeah... Sorry, I forgot.." Tiamat lifts her so she's face to face with her and narrows her eyes.

"He's. Mine." Tiamat growls out making Katase's eyes widen in fear.

 _What the hell is going on?! First Koneko, Asia and Tiamat earlier this week, and now Katase and Murayama as well?!_ Issei says confused in his mind as he notices Katase smirk.

"Why don't we just share him?" Katase suggests before adding quietly so Issei couldn't hear. "He deserves to be happy again..." Tiamat and Murayama look at each other while turning red and then turns to Issei who is in shock. They both nod and smirk at him.

"Alright, we'll share him. For now." Tiamat concedes as she puts down Katase. _He does deserve to be happy.. He doesn't seem to have had much happiness in his life so far.._ she thinks sadly.

"You never answered us on whether you'd teach us magic or not, Tiamat." Murayama says changing the subject. Tiamat looks at her curiously.

"I don't know much about human magic." She answers and sees them both look disappointed. "Show up at the old school building after school tomorrow. Maybe one of the others could assist you." they both perk up and nod at her before looking confused.

"Others? Who are the others?" Katase asks.

"Akeno Himejima, Kiba Yuuto, Koneko Toujou and Asia Argento. They are all devils, and members of Rias Gremory's peerage, as is Issei." Tiamat explains as their eyes widen more and more with each name listed.

"Peerage?" Murayama asks.

"It's a High Class Devil's servants if you will. Humans can be resurrected by a devil as a servant, and fight for the High Class Devil." Murayama and Katase look at each other then towards Issei.

"Can these servants have their own peerage?" Katase asks. Tiamat nods and smiles.

"Yes, but they have to work their way up to a High Class Devil. They start out as Low Class, and have to earn promotions through either accomplishments, field promotion, or through contracts with humans." Tiamat explains.

"Issei, when you become a High Class Devil, let me join your peerage!" Katase exclaims with a wide smile, shocking Issei again. Murayama nods as if saying she wants to join him as well.

"Why would you want to become a devil?" He asks them confused.

"Why not?" Katase answers with a shrug. "I told you earlier, I'll do anything to be able to help you." She says with no hesitation.

"We'll never let you be alone again, Issei." Murayama says with a fond smile, still slightly glaring at Katase.

 _"You're not alone anymore."_ Koneko's words play in his ears and he smiles at them all.

"Thank you." he mutters softly while his eyes water. _No, I won't be alone anymore._

~In Front of Issei's House~

Issei invited them all over for diner for the night. Katase and Murayama excitedly agreed since they haven't seen his parents in years, and Tiamat accepted so she could finally meet them. On their way they ran into Asia who joined them on their trip home, all of them talking about the supernatural world, which surprised Asia that they knew about it. As they approach the door to his house, he and Tiamat stop and narrow their eyes. _This feeling.._ Issei thinks.

 _Excalibur? Why is that here? And what's this other feeling? It seems familiar, but I don't remember from where._ Tiamat thinks as she pushes Asia and the other two girls behind her as Issei opens the door with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Mom, I'm home! I invited some friends over for dinner, I hope you don't mind." Issei calls out nervously.

"That's fine, Issei! Hurry and get in here though, you'll never believe who showed up!" His mother calls out excitedly making him confused. They enter the living room and see two girls sitting on the couch, one blonde, and one blue haired girl with a patch of green with a large bundle wrapped in cloth. He looks at the blonde and his eyes widen.

"Irina?" He asks as he smiles. She smiles at him widely.

"Issei! You remember me!" Irina says happily. "It's been so many years since I've seen you, so much has changed." Her companion's eyes narrow at him.

"Quite a lot from what I can tell." the blue haired girl mutters before looking at the girls with him.

"By the way! Your parents kept avoiding answering my question, so how has Le Fay been?" Irina asks with a wide smile which falters as she sees his own smile disappear and Katase and Murayama's faces draining of color. "Huh? Did I say something wrong?" she asks confused.

"Le Fay.. She died a few years ago." Issei answered and grips the hilt of his sword tighter. He barely noticed the gasp from Irina as she starts crying.

 **That's all for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be the start of the Kokabiel arc. Some of Issei's past has been revealed, and a little more will be revealed next chapter, but it won't all be revealed quite yet.**

 **Alright, Now on to Kunou: She's going to end up running away after the Kyoto arc. Her mother's raw power from that arc is going to scare her from what she has the potential to become. The pure rage Yasaka has while under control will make her fear her own mother, and run away following Issei without anyone noticing. She will still love her mother, but she will be afraid to be near her because of that rage she had, and also fearing using her power because she doesn't want to turn into a monster. She's like Asia where she hates seeing others be hurt, and watching everyone get injured in fights around her will break her inside, eventually releasing her power to protect her new 'family'.**

 ***Yasaka will ask Issei to watch over her in her stead since she realized that Kunou now feared her. They will eventually make up, and Kunou will stop fearing her after a while.**

 **Issei's Full Peerage:**

 **Queen(Mutation Piece): Tiamat**

 **Bishop(Mutation Piece): Kuroka**

 **Bishop: Le Fay Pendragon**

 **Knight: Arthur Pendragon**

 **Knight: Murayama**

 **Rook: Koneko Toujou*May end up having her take the name Shirone in the end. Undecided.**

 **Rook: Rosseweisse**

 **Pawn X 5: Asia Argento**

 **Pawn(Mutation Piece): Katase**

 **Pawn(Mutation Piece): Ravel Phoenix**

 **Pawn(Mutation Piece): Kunou**

 **I'd like some suggestions on Rias' reformed peerage at the end. I've got a few ideas, but I want to be able to have Rias's peerage able to match Issei's in the end, being nearly tied in strength.**

 **Rias' Peerage: She will receive the same pieces used on her current members when Issei splits from her.**

 **Queen: Akeno Himejima**

 **Bishop(Mutation Piece): Gasper Vladi**

 **Bishop(Mutation Piece): Valerie Tepes**

 **Rook: Unknown**

 **Rook: Unknown**

 **Knight: Kiba Yuuto**

 **Knight: Xenovia Quarta**

 **Pawn x 8(4x Mutation Pieces): Unknown**

 **I've considered many characters, but the only one I've completely said yes for was Valerie. I honestly couldn't find it in my heart to be able to split Valerie and Gasper. Which answers why she's not going to be with Issei for those who were interested in her joining him.**

 **No other characters are set in stone, and some of the members might not even make an appearance as her servant until the last couple of chapters anyways, which is why they are so flexible in choice. I've considered Vali, but then I thought I'd have a bitch of a time trying to find a good excuse for him to join Rias. If you want him in her Peerage, let me know how I could make him fit in with her.**

 **I know I said I'd explain Rassei's sudden growth spurt and what a Dragon Tamer was in this chapter. But I honestly couldn't find a way to fit it in without it seeming completely out of place. So I'll explain it here.**

 **In my story, a Dragon Tamer is someone who raises young/baby dragons essentially. As a dragon is basically a mass of energy given form, a Dragon Tamer is able to push their own magical energy into a young dragon they have a pact with. This causes them to grow faster than by naturally absorbing energy from nature, and over time will give the Dragon Tamer the same abilities as the dragon. Which means in time, Asia will become part dragon, specializing in Lightning Dragon Magic. They can only make this kind of pact with young dragons under two or three years of age. So, no, this will not make Asia ungodly powerful when she gets Fafnir's contract from Azazel.(Though Fafnir himself is more than enough to make up for any weakness Asia may have)**

 **They have the ability to calm the rage of any dragon, so long as they are weaker than her in magic, or the dragon allows them to. A fully trained Dragon Tamer can quell even the deepest of rages a dragon may find themselves in.(Like Juggernaut Drive)**

 **Asia is the first Dragon Tamer to be trained since the war. They died out during the war, disappearing from history, which is why Rias didn't know what Tiamat was talking about.**

 **Rassei's growth spurt being so major is due to Asia already having experience forcing her energy into others thanks to her sacred gear, shortening the time Tiamat needed to teach her the basics, as well as Asia's major potential for magic due to being a bishop.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait. I've received many, many PM's asking when this chapter would come out. I have been busy with work and distractions. But here it is, please enjoy :)**

 **Note: Issei did not tell them what happened, he closed himself into his room while Xenovia set up a meeting with Rias the next morning through Tiamat and Asia.**

 **This chapter is shorter than the others, but it's more for setting up the next arc than anything.**

 **Story Start:**

~Next Morning - ORC~

"So you've come here chasing the Excalibur fragments that got stolen?" Rias asks with narrowed eyes before sighing. "Why are there so many events happening in my territory?"

"Yes, a couple of weeks ago three of the Excaliburs were stolen from the church. The thief fled to Japan, in this town." Xenovia explains.

"Do you know who stole them?" Rias asks.

"The Grigori, or more accurately, the Cadre-Class Fallen Angel, Kokabiel." Xenovia says shocking the room silent.

"The church sent two teenagers against Kokabiel? Do you two have a death wish?!" Rias exclaims and Issei's eyes narrow.

"Yes." Xenovia states bluntly surprising them again.

"If we can die in duty to our Lord, there's no greater honor out there." Irina nods besides her, but her normally cheerful self is gone and she looks devoid of emotion.

"The teachings of the church are as insane as always." Rias says while shaking her head. "Why have you come to me, though?"

"We're here to tell you not to interfere in the battle." Xenovia says.

"Do you believe that we would side with the Fallen Angels?" Rias asks with narrowed eyes.

Xenovia nods slightly. "The higher ups believe it is possible, so we were orders to tell you to stay out of this." Rias looks irritated.

"As the sister of a Maou, I would never side with the Fallen Angels. You need not worry about us stopping you from collecting your Excalibur Fragments." Rias sighs again. "Do you even have a chance to win? Do you have some kind of trump card or something?" she asks nervously. _If they fail, this could easily start another war._

"We'll have to find out on our own." Xenovia says with an arrogant smirk. Tiamat snaps her fingers.

"Aha! That's the aura I am feeling. You're the wielder of Durandal, are you not?" She asks and smirks when she sees the shocked look on their faces. "Just so you know, Durandal won't give you certain victory against a Cadre-Class fallen angel. You are simply to weak to be able to handle him." Xenovia's shock turns to anger and growls at Tiamat.

"How the hell would you know?! Your aura feels like a child's aura!" Tiamat raises her eyebrow.

"You do know of aura suppression right? If I released my full aura around you, you'd probably fall to your knees or pass out instantly." Tiamat says calmly as if dismissing her.

"Tch, I highly doubt that." Her eyes widen as Tiamat releases a bit of her aura causing Xenovia and Irina to break out in a sweat and shaking slightly. "T-told ya. I'm still standing."

"Calm down child, this is only 5% of my full power. You have no chance against me, so do not even try." Tiamat says and turns back to Issei. "I'm heading home for now. We'll continue training after school." Seeing Issei nod she vanishes in a magic circle leaving them alone.

"Who exactly was that?" Irina asks Issei. He looks at her still with vacant eyes from last night.

"That was Tiamat, The Chaos Karma Dragon." Issei answers quietly. "She's my familiar." Xenovia visibly pales while Irina chokes on air.

"I just taunted one of the Dragon Kings?!" Xenovia nearly screams. Irina composes herself faster and grabs Xenovia's arm and starts dragging her out of the room.

"Thank you for agreeing to let us do this on our own. We'll be leaving now." As soon as they leave they all see Koneko in front of Issei sniffing him with narrowed eyes.

"You smell like that kendo girl." She says accusingly. Issei looks at her warily.

"She came over for dinner last night. Is something wrong?" He asks her. Asia pouts cutely next to him.

"Katase kissed him yesterday." Asia says shocking the rest as Koneko's eyes narrow more. None of them notice as Kiba leaves.

"Mine." Koneko says and grabs his arm dragging him out of the club room shocking the rest further.

"Why has everything been so complicated since Issei came around?" Rias mumbles while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"By the way, Tiamat said Katase and Murayama should be coming by after school today to talk to you about trying to learn how to use magic." Asia says and she starts chasing after Issei and Koneko.

~At Lunch With Issei and Koneko~

Issei as usual is reading under a tree eating the lunch Asia made him. Koneko however is sitting next to him holding onto his arm possessively. This is what Katase and Murayama see as they arrive.

"Hello Issei!" Katase calls out as she goes to tackle him. Koneko though caught her and threw her away. "What the hell was that for?!" Katase yells at her.

"Issei's mine." Koneko says quietly glaring at Katase. She pouts and looks at Koneko.

"No fair! I may not be a devil, yet, but Tiamat, Murayama and I agreed to share him already." Katase says making Koneko's glare also turn to Murayama.

Koneko hisses quietly at the girls until Issei rubs her head causing her to purr. "Be nice Koneko."

Koneko nuzzles into his side comfortably and closes her eyes making the other two jealous.

"We'll be coming by the club room after school today Issei. Do you think your devil friends will be willing to help us?" Murayama asks. Koneko opens her eyes slightly at that.

"I'm not sure, but I don't see why not." Issei shrugs. Murayama sits down on the other side of Issei and leans her head on his shoulder. _Why do so many girls like me? I don't deserve any of them._ He thinks with a sigh.

"Hey!" Katase shouts. "That's not fair, you two took the only spots next to him!" she pouts. "Oh well, I took his first kiss anyways." she says smugly making the other two glare at her.

~After School - ORC Room~

"So let me get this straight." Rias says while rubbing her temples again. "You two want to learn how to use magic." Katase and Murayama nod while glaring at Koneko sitting on Issei's lap. "Why do you want to learn how to use magic?"

"I want to protect Issei. As I am now, there's nothing I can do to help him." Katase answers still glaring at Koneko.

"We couldn't help him in the past, so we promised to always be there for him in the future." Murayama continues on. "If he's going to have supernatural enemies, we need a way to be able to combat them ourselves."

Rias looks back and forth between the two and sees the determination in their eyes before looking at Issei. _So many people who want to get stronger just for this one boy. What is it about you that draws them in, Issei?_ She wonders before smiling _The future will be interesting at least. Maybe I should ask my brother if he could help me train this summer._

"Akeno, it's your choice whether to teach them or not. You know more human magic than I do." Akeno nods at Rias and tells the two to follow her to begin their training.

Tiamat appears after a while and takes Issei with her.

~With Issei and Tiamat -2 hours later~

Issei collapsed from their spar using Balance Breaker. Over the last week he managed to double his limit in Balance Breaker, and learned a lot in terms to sensing his surroundings.

"We'll start moving on to more advanced Dragon Magic now. Until now, you've mastered Ice and Lightning magics separately, but now we're going to work on combining them." Tiamat says before holding her hand out and an icicle forms sparking with electricity.

"The electricity inside of the Ice will increase damage output, as well as stunning your enemy giving you more openings for attacks." The icicle melts due to the electricity in it.

"That is what will happen if you use to much electricity when combining the two elements. Once you can manage to merge the two elements together without the ice melting, you'll be learning how to increase the size of your spells, and then compacting the power of those spells to make them as small as possible, with the same power behind them."

~With Kiba - Random Alley Way~

Kiba is glaring at a man running away down the street. At his feet is a sword radiating Holy Energy, and a severed arm. "Now how do I destroy this thing?" Kiba mutters as he takes his shirt off and wraps it around the handle of the blade. "I'll figure it out later." He drags the sword behind him back to his house, never noticing someone grabbing the severed arm.

~With Akeno, Katase and Murayama~

"Now that you have unlocked your magic, what type of magic were you planning to learn?" Akeno asks in a proud tone. In only two hours they managed to unlock their magic.

"I was thinking of taking after Issei and learning all I can from different types of magic." Katase answers with a smile. Murayama sits there thinking for a few minutes.

"I'd like to learn reinforcement magic. I'd rather stick to the skills that I know already, and advance them as far as I can bring them." she finally answers.

"Very well, I'll only be teaching you the basics though. From there, you're on your own to advance your skills. It will be hard work, so be sure to practice every day." Akeno tells them.

"Okay!" The both answer with wide smiles.

 _One step closer to Issei!_ They both thought at the same time.

~With Ravel~

As soon as Ravel woke up in the hospital she was surrounded by the rest of her family. They were all disappointed in her for letting Raiser convince her to lie about getting over her fears. Raiser woke up a couple days after, and she was immediately traded to her mothers peerage.

She watched the replay of the rating game, and was amazed watching Issei's will to protect his friends. He pushed himself out of a panic attack because his friends were in danger. He unlocked his Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker to save them.

Raiser and Issei were nearly evenly matched with each other. Raiser ended up the winner of their fight due to his regeneration ability, even though Issei refused to give up, and tried to keep fighting even when he could barely move anymore.

She watched her panic attack, that the entire underworld saw. She felt pathetic. They both had a panic attack during the rating game, but Issei fought it off, where as she instantly gave in to it and lost.

 _I'm pathetic. The fire was nowhere near me, and I still lost it._ She looks up at the screen to see it paused on Issei struggling to stand up with Tiamat standing in front of him and her brother out cold in front of her. The pure anger in her eyes directed at Raiser is suffocating.

 _"You're pathetic. You'd attack him, even when he can't even fight anymore? You disgust me."_

Tiamat's words ring through her ears. She always looked up to Raiser as being a great man, and brother. Tiamat's words echo harshly through her head, changing everything she thought about him.

 _He was going to kill someone in a game, just because he feared them?_ Ravel's eyes start to water. _Issei is amazing to have been able to take on my brother. He even pushed back all of his fears to do it. Maybe I can be like him.. push past my fears.. protect what's important to me.._

Ravel's clenches her fists and leaves her room to find her father. When she finds him, she stares straight at him with a small fire burning in her eyes. Her father looks back at her in surprise.

"I see you've made your mind up on something, Ravel. What is it?" He asks with a smile at her.

"Daddy, Can you help me get over my fear of fire, and help me get stronger?" She asks without breaking eye contact. His father's eyes widen in surprise again.

"Why do you wish to get stronger? I'll help you either way, Ravel, I just want to know why." He asks happily. _My little girl is finally coming back out of her shell!_

Ravel smiles widely at her father. "There's someone I want to thank for waking me up, but if I can't get past my fears, I'm not worthy to even stand in from of him." She answers honestly and clenches her fists again.

"Is this about that Issei boy?" he asks her and smirks when he sees her blush slightly. "Very well, I'll help you as best I can. But if you don't give it your all, there will be no point in it. We'll start small, and work our way up to get you past your fear." He says as he sets his hand on fire and sees her start to panic. He goes to put the fire out before he sees her eyes harden in determination and forces herself to calm down causing him to smile happily. _I'll have to thank Issei myself for saving my daughter it seems._

~With Le Fay~

Le Fay is currently sitting on a cliff watching the sun set, tracing the scars on her shoulders. Tears slowly fall down her cheeks before she feels a hand on her shoulder and looks up to see her brother sitting besides her.

"What's wrong, Le Fay?" He asks her with a sad smile. She shakes her head and looks back at the sunset.

"Just thinking about Issei again. I wish he was here with us." She says softly.

"I know it's hard, Le Fay, but you need to move on. You'll likely never see him again." He tells her.

"I know I won't see him again. But why did he have to die?" She asks him and doesn't notice his eyes widen.

 _Die? Who told her he died..?_ He wonders. "Le Fay.. Who told you he died?" He asks slowly. She looks at him weirdly.

"You did, Arthur.. You showed me the newpaper saying that five people died in that building with only one survivor." she answers while crying harder. "There was only those four bastards with us in that building afterall. I was the only survivor" His eyes widen even further.

 _For four years she thought he died because of that paper..?_ his jaw drops open even further. _That means Issei probably thinks that she died as well!_

"Shit!" Arthur says before jumping to his feet surprising her "Issei's not dead you idiot! There were five guys in that building with the two of you! I got you out and took off before the emergency response teams got there! I left Issei out front to be found by them, while I took you right to the hospital. Issei was the survivor, not you! They never knew you were even there!" Her eyes widen in hope as she stares at him.

"W...What? Issei's alive?" she mutters out in shock. _I ran away because I thought I got him killed.. but he survived?!_

Le Fay gets up and looks out at the sunset again and smiles with tears of joy rolling down her face this time. "Issei.." she mutters out with a smile. She turns to her brother and stares at him determined. "I'm going back to Japan. Tell Vali he can take his group and go to hell if he doesn't like it." she says and starts to walk away before noticing Arthur following her.

"I told you before, Le Fay. I won't let you go anywhere on your own anymore. I almost got both you and Issei killed four years ago, I won't repeat that mistake." He says strongly. _Following Vali would have given me plenty of tough opponents for my blade, but my sister is more important to me than that._

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The part with Le Fay honestly wasn't planned to be put in. But I've received so many PM's and Reviews hating on Le Fay abandoning him thinking she died that I felt that I needed to. They both thought the other died that day. Arthur knew the truth the whole time, but did not know that they only saw four of the people in the building with them, so never said anything to her about it. I was planning on them meeting again after Kokabiel when Vali tells his group about Issei, but I changed it to this to explain it a bit.**

 **I hope that answers your question at how she's a part of his Peerage, and 'dead' at the same time. I didn't get a single comment thinking that they both thought the other was dead, which surprised me.**

 **Got a comment about Asia being a Dragon Tamer: Yes, I understand that they are simply someone who has a connection to dragons in canon. In my story it goes past that though. She can raise and bond to baby/young dragon's she raises, making them grow faster, and gaining the ability to use their powers when they are strong enough. This only works with young dragons she has contracts with and raises. As she gets stronger she'll be able to calm a dragon's rage, so long as the dragon knows her, or she is stronger magically than the dragon.**

 **Easy version: Asia will over time become part sprite dragon(lightning dragon magic based), which will cause her bishop to mutate which is why she's worth five pawn pieces for Issei rather than the three pieces a bishop is actually worth.**

 **This chapter was mainly setting up the Kokabiel arc up to the Underworld Training arc. I hope you enjoyed it, and again sorry for the long wait, been really busy lately :).**


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